SERIOUS GRASS FIRE

Wairarapa Daily Times, 19 January 1933, Page 6

SERIOUS GRASS FIRE

DAMAGE IN CANTERBURY. CHRIS TCHUR GH, Wednesday. Damage estimated at over £2OOO was done by a fire which started yesterday morning on the railway line between Bankside and Rakaia. It spread out on a two-mile front and travelled swiftly over about ten miles of country parched by the recent dry weather. The fire was f-o-ught by about 700 men for nearly twelve hours, and was stopped by a wide area of land which had been ploughed for cropping. Hundreds of acres of grass, which may not recover before the winter, about 50 acres of a- plantation, many ac-tres of wheat, and miles of fene-es were -burnt, the fire leaving a blackened waste over an extensive area. With the exception of a shed on -c-iie property, farm buildings escaped. Some farmers will be faced with a difficult problem in finding feed for stock. The fire started on the railway line, where the burning off of grass was in progress, and the flames got out of control. Officers of the Railway Department were making inquiries to-day as to the- extent of the damage.—(P.A.)