OFFICIALS ON TOUR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 191, 7 May 1908, Page 8

OFFICIALS ON TOUR.

. HOW THEY CROSS THE HANMER . PLAIN. ' The Hanmer Plain is traversed by rivers —unbridged rivers—which feature accounts for the fact that the Government motor care that tako the Hanmer-bound passengers on from Culrorden, the present terminus of the railway, proceed only as far as tho AVaiau Forry (which is.not a.fc-rry, but a particularly high and mighty bridge). But nothing deters energetic Government officials in tho oxecution of their duty, and so it happened that a party oj civil servants resolved to dash right on to Hanmer, per motor car, instead of travelling by tho slower but safer horeo veliicle. AVith tie reckless spirit of trained automobilists tlicy took chances, and promptly found themselves water-logged in the shallow waters of the turbulent Hanmer River, and all hands had to turn out and lend a hand to drag the car on to dry land. AVhile 'they were thusv engaged, another fine 40 horse-power Darracq car, which had been cutting down timo from Culverden, arrived on the scene. _ AVarnings were given, and a brief consultation was held by the passengers, which included another prominent Government servant, and it was decided that tho big-powered car would get through before the sparking apparatus could bo affected by the water. It took the river with a rush, and, to the secret joy of tho other party, found a hole, and "sunk beneath tho' wave." Tho Government official, with commendable promptitude, commandeered a man's back, and was boing "piggy-backed" to the bank, when the man with the load said he would go_no farther. But tho official was great at "riding a finish," and, applying whip and spur, was landed dry amidst the applause of , a crowd of shepherds, boundary riders, sheepdogs, etc., who had gathered to witness tho i fun. ' Meanwhilo tlib first car had been pulled out of the river, and after being drained was set going again, but fate was against it, for the car stuck again in the middle of tho . Percival River, a few chains further on, and. i again its official occupants had to lose their Lambton Quay dignity so far as to.tuck .their 1 trousers knee-high to reach dry land, and a , team of horses had to be requisitioned to . drag tho motor car out of the wet. The i Darracq successfully negotiated tho Percival . and tho Rodgerson Rivers.