"THE LAST OF COBBS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19321, 7 May 1926, Page 15

"THE LAST OF COBBS."

OLD COACH IN AUSTRALIA. LINK WITH PIONEERING DAYS. [from nrn own correspondent.] SYDNEY, April 29. Something of a stir was created in 1924 when what was claimed to he the last of Cobb nnd Co.'s picturesque old mail coaches was withdrawn from service in Queensland, and when, following upon the acquisition of the historic coach by the Commonwealth Government for the nation and the offer of the Queensland Government to house it until the museum at Canberra was ready to receive it, it mado its appearance in a procession at the centenary celebrations in Brisbane, with Lord Forstev on the box. It looks now, however, as though all this was a bit premature. It is nowstated that it was not the last of Cobb's old coaches and that one of them is still in commission not 200 miles from Sydney. Laden with His Majesty's mails, a miscellaneous cargo and an occasional passenger, it rattles away still from this little town at the break of day, rolls over the ranges and past old abandoned mines, and, faithful'to the tradition of the historic old mail coach service, invariably arrives at its destination well on time, fair weather or foul. Possibly this coach's days are numbered, possibly this last survivor of the roaring old days will be dethroned before long by the motor, and another link will be broken with the romantic associations of the pioneering days, but the recital of tho story seems to show that one at least of the ever faithful old mail coaches is still on the road. It shows, also, in common with the many horse-drawn vehicles for heavier use still in and about Sydney, that while the horse is regarded as being doomed to extinction in an essentially mechanical age, there are today strongholds from which it cannot bo ousted. The establishment of an association in Sydney, with the backing of some of the biggest ' carriers, among others, for the preservation and promotion of interests associated with the horse for utilitarian purposes, tho record entries in the blood stock classes at the Royal Show, and the use of the horse in city transportespecially where it is a question of short and heavy haulage, all go to show that tho day is far distant yet when people will have to go into a museum to recall what manner of animal the horse was. Just now especially, following upon Animal Week, the horse, as the trusted and faithful servant of man, is much in tho public eye.