WORLD MOTOR TOUR.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 18 January 1929, Page 7

WORLD MOTOR TOUR.

iIDFS VEimjRE IN SMALL

CAR,

ACROSS THE UNITED.STATES IN . A BABY AUSTIN.

An event of particular interest to motorists- and of no small concern to the public generally was the arrival in Levin, at noon yesterday, of Miss "Gladys M. de Haviland, who ia touring the world in the car now so well known as the Baby Austin, Seven. With Misa

Stevens, of the Wellington , staff .of ■ Idagnus Motors,'as a passenger, Miss d 3 Haviland drew: up at the Magnus Motors garage, where she was welcomed by the Mayor (Mr T. Hobson), the local manager," Mr P. Lynch, and a good gathering of the public. Miss de Haviland was then entertained at lunch at Williams's tea-rooms, after which she proceeded on her way to Palmerston, where the night was spent. Miss de Haviland, who is a sister of Mr Jeffrey de Haviland, designer of the aeroplane of that name, arrived in Wellington on Monday by the Tahiti, from San Francisco, having travelled overland from New York. A« interesting acccunt of h;.r tour was obtained by a representative of the Chronicle.

The journey was commenced at Lorgtridge, England, on Thursday, October 18th, and the ear was driven through a heavy rainstorm to Southampton, where Miss de Haviland and her companion at that time, Miss Eley, boarded the Tuscania, which arrived at Now York on October 27th. Their object was to encircle the world in the smallest car made, the 7 h.p. Baby Austin. The car is in every respect a standard model, and the equipment is identical with that given to all purchasers of this make of machine.

AMERICANS KEENLY INTER ESTED.

In the trip across the States the ■ "important towns through which the car passed'were Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Washington, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Needles, and Los Angeles, thence travelling north to San Francisco, where the voyagers caught the Tahiti for New Zealand. Ihc experiences of the pair an tho road were interesting to the fullest degress, and were frequently very thrilling. In every city through which they passed, the Baby Austin, evoked the .curiosity of the Americans, and incidentally their admiration and friendliness. Very few had seen such q, tiny motor vehicle. The ladies weie treated most hospitably at every point; awl American car ,-<wner# were always very anxious to assist them with .such matters as road - information. On the other, hand," it happened that the little Seven was oC service tc much larger on at least , three occasions during the long journey, when the travellers were able to Jhelp those in difficulty through breakdowns.

DETOJIR ROADS AT THEIR WORST At aeyeral places appalling detours from the main rods were encountered. These detours were simply a long succession of deep holes filled with mud and water. In at least one instance the Sevea was able to negotiate on? ■of.these detours with less difficulty and at a,higher ipeed than The large «ars which essayed the same feat. Itwould be far from the correct state of affairs to imagine that the journey aeros3 America was made on good roads and under easy conditions, for quite the largest portion of the trip was male under extremely adverse 4-onditions. Some roads, especially in •the deserts, were heavy sand and were negotiated on the lower gears. Other X>arts were on mountain passes reach- - jag altitudes of almost 8000 feet. Hundreds of mile's of road were so bumpy ?nd so filled with potholes as to make the Agoing not only extremely difficult, but exceedingly uncomfortable for any fype of vehicle. The little Seven, however, underwent all these trials .and was. .far' more willing to carry on at-■it.be .end.of-the day than the ladies . were. ■

*Misd de Haviland was greatly amus-. ■ed by some of the roadside notices, .also by some of ,the signs ornamenting the walls of various inns. Just f-fter passing a notice stressing the need for exercising care and avoiding skidding, the travellers came to a garage hoarding, bearing the words, "You.wreck it. We will fix it." At another point the tourists were shown a number of white crosses oirthe roadside, marking the places where people had been killed in motor accidents. HUMOUR LIGHTENS HARDSHIP. At one of the roadside inns there was a quaint placard on the wall, which read,-"Our coffee has a lingering kick like a flapper's first kiss." Another notice said, "Use less * sugar, "but stir like h—. We don 't mind the noise." Wit was even more conspicuous'in a wall-sign which gave the .following advice: "Don't make fun ,of ouf coffee. You may be old and weak some day." . The travellers had a number of trying experiences which they are not likely to forget. On one very muddy and boggy section of road the car :sank so much and so often that eventually the whole of the space between ■the -wheels and the mudguards was .packed tight with mud, and nothing • could bo. done until the ladies made •arrangements for help to lift the car -out of av hole in which it had settled. 'They then picked out the mud as best they could with their fingers, thus freeing the wheels and enabling them to revolve for at least a period. At certain stages of their tour the travellers suffered bitterly frpm the intense cold, which was, of course, particularly severe at high altitudes. 'They were unlucky enough to contract influenza, which added to their hardships, and Miss Eley had to return to England from Hollywood.

AUSTRALIA AND INDIA NEXT. It is the intention of Miss de Havi3and to make the rest of the journey :alone, except .across the Australian Desert, Where she will have a lady 'Companion with her. She is quite confident, after what the little car has already accomplished, that they wili Ji.ave no difficulty in completing the

circle of the globe, and she has every confidence that she will arrive back at 'the Austin Company's works in England with the- vehicle in good going condition. On reaching Levin, Miss d-j Haviland had accomplished 4350 miles out of a total of approximately 10,000 miles. She is still using the original set of Dunlop tyres. They show very little 'sign of wear, and so far only one puncture has been sustained. After touring the North Island, Miss de Haviland will leave on Friday next for Sydney, and will meet her younger brother,: Hereward, who represents De Haviland's plar-e in Melbourne. When ! the continent has been crossed' to j Perth,. she will sail for India, which she hopes to reach before the monsoon season.