Bunyip hi so mining, as has. Wathalla, which was only saved after a' most ghastly fight, At Bunyip a miner was caught in the flames and a farmer'in Toongabbie, another small town. None of these townships is very large, which is indeed fortunate as otherwise the toll of life would have been worse then even now. 'The damage by fire to property, the loss of animal life is unable to be calculated at pre sent, It is enormous, is all that known. Teamsters and mill owner hardly' know where their horses might have got away from fire, for rabbits, snakes, birds and beasts have perished in thousands, both in Victoria and New South Wales. In. the Ovens river district, Bright was cut of from the main Sydney to Melbourne railway line, and Whitfield is trying to establish the railway in working order. Other means of communication are everywhere in the fire areas une certain, if not impossible, The Postal Department has men out in the areas working, and many of them had narrow escapes, ay did also- the Water Commission officers. The Tumut district and towards Canberra is the supply from which Wagga Wagga is served with water, and the Burrinjack Weir is in the vicinity. Melbourne's water supply comes from the Dandenong Ranges, Smoke Seen for Hundreds of Miles Large grass fires have been burn= ing in various parts of Victoria, as well as the main zone in Gippsland and the Warburton to Melbourne area, Kerang, and St. Arnaud bee ing "the main ones, the Mallee scrub around Horsham, where dry farming is in operation, has caused much loss, as have those at Rochester, Tatura, and, Shepparton, State forests of Pine at Smythes-dale, near Ballarat, as well as plantations adjacent to Bendigo and Ballarat, have boon seriously damaged. The grazing lands of the Western district, Camperdown and Colae centres have also suffered, while the fashionable seaside ree sort, Lorne, reputed as a beauty spot, is now barren waste, almost cut off from its main metropolitan, centre Geelong. Farther along the coast the timber of Beech Forest is, fire, and the township is cut off from all communication whatever. Keroit farther west still is also surrounded by fires. Ships coming from Adelaide are delayed by, smoke, and nearer Melbourne ard which is Iined by ree and scrub fires in the seaside suburbs of outer, Melbourne and its environs, fog horns have been necessary, Wilsons' Promontory is another point of danger to shipping, as well as Gabe Island, a light house position farther north up the coast. The captain of a vessel coming from New Zealand says the smoke is seen some 600 miles out to sea, while many sailors
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.