BUSH FIRE DISASTER

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22247, 17 January 1944, Page 4

BUSH FIRE DISASTER

14 PERISH IN FLAMES

VICTORIAN VISITATION GREAT DAMAGE CAUSED (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright,- - (Received Jan. 17, 3.15 0.m.) MELBOURNE, Jan. 17 The death list in the Victorian bush fires has risen to 19. More than 700 houses have been destroyed. At least 250.000 sheep were destroyed in western districts alone. Many others which were injured were shot. Thousands of sheep, cattle and horses vyhich survived the fire are wandering over blackened land without fodder. The State Agricultural Department has arranged to send fodder to prevent loss of stock through starvation. Bush fires are also raging in southern New' South Wales, where 20,000 acres of grassland has been swept, causing considerable loss of stock. The townships of Derrinallum, Mount Bute and Berrybank, in the western district, have been wiped out. Practically every man in Victorian country districts has been fighting the fires for 36 hours and thousands of troops were rushed from country camps to assist. In the Blackrock, Beaumaris and Mentone areas, where more than 100 beach homes were razed, residents rushed to the beaches and stood knee-deep in the water to escape the flames. Reports of damage from outlying districts are still being received. Hundreds of cattle, including the whple of the Aberdeen Angus stud recently imported by Mr Lindsay Nicholas from New Zealand, were lost. Flax valued at between £60.000 and £70,000 was burned at Willaura, but the flaxmills were saved. Fires swept to within 13 miles of Melbourne in a southern suburb, 10 miles from the city in the north-west and 25 miles in the north.