When my youngest son and family emigrated to Sydney seven years ago and
installed themselves in a small bungalow, which was all they could afford
at that time, they were almost immediately afflicted by natural forest
fires around their housing estate. (In Australia, forest fires proceed
frighteningly by consecutive explosions of the oily eucalytus trees rather
than by actual flame contact.)
The fire was caused by high temperatures in the previous months and fanned
by strong winds. Along with his neighbours, my son stayed on the roof of
his house for two days and nights, his wife in the garden, beating out the
burning brands that floated down like flock upon them. Hundreds of houses
elswhere were burned down, thousands of houses were damaged, scores of
people died.
Forest fires have broken out again around Sydney and threaten to be even
worse than in 1994. As I write, the fires are proceeding to surround Sydney
from the south, the west and the north. The fires are so serious this time
that, in some areas, the police are not even allowing house-owners to
defend their houses or to try and rescue their possessions, arresting them
and placing them in hand-cuffs. One particular 16-mile front has swung
round towards the Blue Mountains and whole townships are being now being
evacuated.
The forest fires are also worse this time because car-loads of young men
from the inner parts of Sydney are driving to the suburbs and starting
additional fires themselves ("most, if not all", according to a police
spokesman on BBC radio). Thus, a considerable part of the Sydney police
force is now engaged in trying to arrest these arsonists to prevent further
tragedies.
The young men are welfare recipients. Clearly, they have little sense of
community. Australia has been immensely prosperous in the last few years
and has the most generous welfare system in the world.
I wonder whether there's a connection somewhere?
Keith Hudson
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�Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in
order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow
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Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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