Speaking at the opening of Bush Fire Prevention Week, Mr Beckett, Minister for Forests, said that, of the outbreaks of fire which involved a loss of £250,000 last season, thirty-five per cent were caused by sportsmen, tourists or campers.

Look 'ere.   I'll bet a 'arf-a-crown
   To anythink you like to name (said Bushy Bill),
If country fellers went to town,
An' burnt a few big buildin's down,
   An' quids an' quids went up in flame (said Bushy Bill),
Do you suppose, by any chance,
You'd put it down to ignorance.
   An' let 'em go their dilly way
   To do the trick some other day?  (Said Bushy Bill).
No fear.  You'd take that crim'nal lot
An' likely lynch 'em on the spot.
Fine sense of property you got (said Bushy Bill).


Yet city coves come up this way,
   Shootin' or goin' campin' out (said Bushy Bill).
But are they careful blokes?  Not they.
An' when their camp fire gets away
   They wonder what it's all about (said Bushy Bill).
They sling their matches round the place,
An' carry on a fair disgrace
   Wise coots they are, all in the know,
   Who reckons country coves is slow (said Bushy Bill).
But when two hundred thousand quid
Goes up, they dunno wot they did.
   They can't think 'ow that green scrub caught
   They never knoo.  They never thought.
   Look 'ere.  IT'S TIME YOUS BLOKES WAS TAUGHT (said Bushy Bill).

"Den"
Herald, 20 January 1931, p8