IN THE PILLORY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22431, 18 June 1938, Page 14

IN THE PILLORY

Go to the Hills For Fresh Fumes Of Motor Spirit [By COMMENTATQRJ Once upon a time, as all good fairy stories begin, people used to walk on the Cashmere Hills for a breath of fresh air that was denied them in the city. They still go to the .hills, but those of them who walk find that the fresh air has been replaced in many of their favourite places by-petrol fumes. Since the Summit road was completed motorists have begun to make the hills as much their... own as the walkers used io. Sunday after Sunday walkers on the hills find that so far from dodging the traffic problem they have to use as much caution on the roads as they do walking in Cathedral square. Nice and shining new cars, with the windows sealed—so that no draughts of fresh air may embarrass the driver and his passengers make pedestrians turn their attention from the scenic attractions to picking a careful path on the edge of the road left them by passing motorists. One by one more of the hill walks that were the city’s main at- ■ tractions for those who loved walking are becoming open for motor traffic. One good result is that fhe beauties of the hills are becoming available to people who otherwise could not or would not enjoy them. But there are other results. The silence of the hills is shattered by the sound of motor-car horns, and sometimes grating gearchanges, the fresh air has the tang of petrol in it, and the roads carry traffic that often moves at more than 30 miles an hour. Even Kennedy’s Bush, that excellent walk, is now a motor drive.

And while the motorists over a great part of the hill roads go in comfort over tarsealed surfaces, the walker in the winter often follows muddy and slippery paths. If a mere fraction of the money that has been spent on tarsealing the roads had been spent on gravelling the footpaths the walkers would have a little less to complain of. As it is they have a difficult job to rid themselves of a feeling of inferiority when the car-driver and his passengers look out coldly on those who merely walk. Dogs, however, put the car travellers in their places when they, look with sarcasm on unhappy other dogs who have to travel the hills in a closed car, peering disconsolately through a window.