The Premier, Mr Dunstan, said: …’This was the greatest disaster of its kind in the history of the State. We were all wise after the event, and inclined to blame the other fellow. Someone was to blame. All fires were not accidental. It was more than a coincidence that half a dozen fires should break out in the one forest on the one day. Why was it that fires occurred in forests with a heavy rainfall, and rarely in dry wheat crops?’

The Minister of Forests (Mr Lind) said he had always believed in the intelligent use of fire for the protection of forests by burning off, but had been criticised for those opinions.

[A, 25/1/39]