CAR WRECKED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 157, 14 April 1928, Page 6

CAR WRECKED

EXPLOSION ON THE ROAD.

HOLIDAY-MAKERS’ ESCAPE

AUCKLAND, April IS.

It is not the conventional and expected events of a holiday which remain in the memory, but the circumstances which are unexpected and bizarre. Judged by this criterion, three young men from" Taihape will never forget a holiday trip they had at Easter. It is 63 miles from Taihape to Tokaanu, but tlie old and dilapidated car in which the three men set out covered the distance in good time. It was with no ungenerous doubts, therefore, that the tourists, having tasted the delights) of a holiday at Lake Taupo, set out on the return journey. What had been done once couid lie done again. The day was fine and they discussed the prospects of the All Blacks, argued about the merits of their catches at tiie lake, and deplored the necessity of returning to work. The engine, - too, was not silent. Indeed, it was hot and garrulous, but its masters, recognising that its life had been long and its vicissitudes many, were prepared to overlook its eccentricity, and so the party rattled along over the Waiouru Plain—until something happened.. A great many things happened, but the one most obvious to tlip driver was his discovery of himself lying in Die tussocks with the steering wheel still in his hands. The car, it was presently discovered, was well shattered by the explosion. Parts lay in all directions and the body looked fit for the morgue. And presently it occurred to the three men they t-oo might easily have qualified for admittance to the morgue. As it was they were scarcely scratched. Tramping along the road afterwards on a six-mile journey to catch a train at Waiouru, it appeared likely to the tourists that the car’s behaviour was due to a lack of water in the radiator.