A LONG-LIVED FIRE.

THE MENACE OF PEAT,

A PAPANUI NUISANCE

Probably there are but few people in Christchurch who know that at Papanui an extensive fire has been burning more or less continuously for years. The residents of the neighbourhood, however, know it only too well from unpleasant experience.

Surrounding the short .blind road called Paparoa Street there lie the Finglas and Westby Perceval estates.The former has been largely cut up for building, allotments. In each -estate there lies part of an. old peat bog, now quite dry on top, though it is saturated with water a foot or two below the surface. Several years ago the peat caught fire, and during the' past two years, when the weather has been quite favourable almost without a break it has been burning steadily and most annoyingly. At an early stage the fire could have been stopped, in the manner in which it is now confined in v some directions, by trenching through the dry layer into the wet peat below, and so limiting the combustion to the enclosed area. The land on the north-east of Paparoa Street has, howeverj been left to the care of nature, and is much overgrown with gorse and broom, besides being badly infested with thistles, and the only use to which the greater part is put is the feeding of cattle. It has an excellent carpet of grass, thanks to the wet subsoil.

As . precautions were not taken sufficient po confine the fire when it began, it has since spread over an area of about twenty acres. The peat burns in a layer averaging a foot thick. The removal of the dry layer by burning exposes fresh peat, and a great quantity in places already burned over is in such a state that it would burn, so that it is not impossible that the same area may be 'burned over several times, prolonging the existence of the fire indefinitely.

A reporter was conducted over the scene of the fire yesterday by a local resident, who pointed out the ditching that had been done, and that had effectually stopped the encroachment of the fire. The surrounding properties, he said, were considerably affected in value by the existence of the fire, owing to the offence it caused, while the value of the land actually burned was diminished very much. The smoke was very frequently a serious nuisance. Those living close to the fire suffered much inconvenience, owing to the irritating fumes of the burning peat and the overlaying turf, and no less inconvenience was caused by the ashes. Those, of course, made a deep layer wherever the fire had been, and a stiff breeze would ait them arid carry them in dense, almost opaque, clouds, while at the 6anie time the fanning of the wind accentuated the smoke nuisance. He expressed the opinion that, unless the owners of the property were prepared to go to considerable expense in trenching and irrigating, as some of the persons interested had already done over a part of the affected ground, nothing could be done to stop the fire. It was, therefore, to be regretted that complete steps had not been taken to stop it at an early 6tage. It was to be hoped, he said, that the weather would interfere. Unfortunately, such a fire could very easily be started again, and it was regrettable that there were generally persons about of so laTrikinish a tendency as to delight in setting fire to such a wealth of fuel.