MOTOR TRAFFIC.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2672, 29 December 1928, Page 5

MOTOR TRAFFIC.

INCREASE IN NUMBER. MORE CAMPING PARTIES. There has been some difference of opinion in regard to the volume of motor traffic through Te Kuiti during the Christmas holidays, but from information gathered from authentic sources there has been an increase as compared with previous years. One local motorist to Auckland on Sunday passed just on 300 cars between Te Kuiti and Mercer, while a garage proprietor at Newmarket told the same motorist that 700 cars had passed through the Auckland suburb before 8 a.m. that morning. On Monday last between Te Kuiti and Mokau another local man passed 147 cars within two hours. The traffic is not now so noticeable in Te Kuiti as in former holidays, owing to the fact that more of the motorists are camping out. Camps can be seen along the whole route from Te Kuiti to Mokau, while there was about a score of tents erected along the Waitomo Caves road on Christmas Day. Another thing is that with the high-powered cars of to-day and the improved roads, many are making the New Plymouth-Auckland run a non-stop one, whereas Te Kuiti in the past was the half-way stopping place. The. cars that have passed through Te Kuiti during the last few days were of all shapes, sizes and colours. From the eight-cylindered limousine to the old-fashioned Ford they made their way onth north and south. Lizzie is still dji'hg good work for her owners, many of the eld busses being loaded up to 'he top of the doors on each side with tents, bedding and camp tinware of every" description, while they seemed to be carrying the happiest crowds of chubby faced children, alert and cheerful in their crowded state. One party carried their Christmas dinner goose in a sugar bag tied to the side of Lizzie, the condemned bird, with its head over the top of the sack, gazing from side to side with a look of wonder. Another old derelict of the road had two round bomb-looking parcels dangling from each side of the hood and looked suspiciously like plum puddings. The general impression to be gathered from the occupants was that they felt that "We ain't got much money, but we do enjoy life." No serious motoring accidents have been reported, though there were several narrow escapes. A seven-seater car on Mount Messenger, when passing another car, went too near the edge and was suspended over the edge of a deep gorge seven hundred feet deep for some time, the passengers being afraid to. move as the balance of the vehicle might be lost, passing motorists meanwhile holding it in position until a lorry was procured to pull it on to the road again.

Two motor cyclists also went over the bank, one at Mount Messenger and another at Awakino Valley Road, but the riders escaped unhurt. A seven-seater car going to New Plymouth plunged into the \Awakino River, being submerged to the top of the hood. Two light cars left the road between Mokau and New Plymouth and capsized, but the occupants escaped injury. A car is alongside the road at Hangatiki, badly damaged, but as no report has been made to the police, it is presumed that the occupants were not hurt.