INCIDENTS ON THE ROAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23204, 31 May 1937, Page 7

INCIDENTS ON THE ROAD

HELPFULNESS OF FARMERS (Contributed) City dwellers, or at least a few of them, are prone to think, and some actually believe, that the man on the land, the legitimate farmer, is a somewhat selfish individual and that he thinks and acts only for his own particular ends. In fact, they take, the view that he has no time for the city man. This brings me to the background of my story. Having occasion on Saturday last to travel by motor car on a hurried excursion to the beach below Coombe Hay, about 12 miles from Milton,, the narrator and his friends found, the roads very soft, recent rain pools not having had time to disappear. There were three ! cars on the way About halfway down, No. 1 car suddenly got out of 'hand, and skidded The driver, fortunately, had the presence of mind to pull in towards the bank, otherwise the car might have fallen into the river, 50 feet below. The two cars following had no ropes or other hauling gear, and No. 1 car had to remain in the drain. Incident No. 1. Oh, yes, the trip was chock-full of incidents. There was mud farther on, with the result that even a single-seater suddenly side-slipped, rid, with a loud squeak, remained in the hole! The. two passengers took to " shanks's pony ' for the rest of the journey. Incident No. 2. And yet the other car travelled on with its load of five, those inside expressing sympathy with and good wishes for those on foot. All went along merrily, the sun shone brightly, there was not a breath of wind, and on the rendezvous (the beach) everyone was happy. Later, the atmosphere began to get chilly, baskets were repacked, and the return to Milton and Dunedin .was commenced—the five in the large car and the rest on foot. We would get along to the single-seater, haul her out without any trouble, and then we would all be home by tea hour! We had accomplished our object thus far, and everybody was beaming. The car grunted somewhat in places on the way, and just as we were within half a mile of the single-seater, incident No. 3 occurred. The car suddenly lurched, and the two starboard wheels dropped into a two-foot trench. In five seconds the driver's smile had left his face, and one could see only his lower jaw work up and down. He was saying something the rest of his passengers could not hear! Well, we were all then in what might be termed a predicament. Just then Mr William Reay, of' Waronui, who had been one of our party, came, along. He immediately realised the trouble, and without hesitation " footed it" back a mile or two and brought up two upstanding draught horses. But all efforts would not shift the car. What was to be done? The shades of night were falling, and it was getting even more chilly. The ground was damp and cold. And then a short conference took place between Mr George Dabinett and Mr Reay. The latter mounted one of his horses and set out for Mr Neil Bunbury's homestead to see what could be had in the way of; a tractor By and bye we heard somewhere in the distance the noise of a machine, and in a few minutes over the, brow of a hill half a mile away we sighted one of those marvellous hauling machines It was only a minute or two after hitching on the chains that Mr Bunbury and his assistant had our car lifted high and dry, and-everybody offered up thanks and forgot about the cold and hunger. Then, the tractor was taken along to the single-seater; it was nothing for the 25 horse-power to shift it. , . Now here is the crux of the whole thing: To observe how readily the farmers will cease their own work, cpme along with an encouraging smile that at once evokes confidence, almost in a whisper confer with one another, and then get down to the job and do it.