AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, 13 May 1898, Page 8

AN INTERESTING EXPERIENCE.

The following interesting letter from a Christchurch gentleman appears iv the Australian Xe-sxi'iujri 1 just to hand :—: — " ilev. Dear Sir, — i'he intense heat wave which has recently swept over New Zealand was nowhere in the colony more sev. rely felt than on the Plains of Canterbury and the districts surrounding Ohristchurch, where hundreds of families have been rendered huint - less through the severity of the bush tires. Surrounded by a range of lofty hills which rise more or less abruptly from the sea and separate it from the interior, the picture-quo a.n<l popular watering place of Governor's Bay (distant two hoars' journey irorn Christchurch) has lately become a favourite resort for health- v -tvk( tm ai d pleasure-seekers alike, while the native bush and ferns which grow in the neighbouring gullies make it a paradise for campers and picnickers. Attracted by the beauty of the place, I leased a grazing farm of about 120 acres near this bay, of wh eh I took possession about the middle of last December. Early on the morning of the 13th January, the smoke rising over the hills on the Cashmere estate — a large sheep-run adjoining my property on two sides — gave unmistakable evidence ot a fire on the ranges One of those fierce Nor'-westers, from which all these colonies have suffered so much lately, was blowing at the time, and, unfortunately, blowing towards my property. Long before noon the top of the range above my place was, for over a mile in extent, a mass of flame, and were it not for the destruction of prop Tty which it spelt and the danger which it, fnrboded. it would have been an exceedingly enj 'vable thing to

up the hill and in a landslip. But further than this, it had been raining the previous night, and was, when we found them, only beginning to clear up, yet they were perfectly dry and clean, and bore no trace of either fire or rain upon their silken surface. The impulse became irresistible on both of us to kneel down on the spct and adore God and to offer to Him our thanks for the singular manner in which He had exalted the giory of His holy mother, and manifested His own power. When I first caught sight of the scapulars hanging on the gorse branch a coll perj-piration came over me and I trembled from head to foot, and when I called on my friend to come ane see them he appeared to bi similarly affected. On the he made me promise to send an account of the circumstance to the Vr-wntfrr of tfm Sacred Heart — a promise which I regret that I have been until now unable to fulfil. — I an, sir, yours etc., Waitahuna, Governor's Bay. JM. NOLAN,