A MUCH TRAVELLED MOTORIST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3021, 7 February 1912, Page 59

A MUCH TRAVELLED MOTORIST.

NEW ZEALAND A CHARMING PLACE. Mr R. L. Jefferson, F.R.G.S., a wellknown British automobUist, who is on a trip fco Australia, was formally welcomed by the Automobile dub of Victoria, and, bv reauesfc. in a happy, conversational ww

entertained his listeners for about an hour with anecdote and descriptive passages of countries visited. in Europe, Asia, Africa, end America. He spoke of the great facilities for motoring' in India, described what a charming country it is at certain times of the year; and referred to its broad military, road, hundreds of miles long, where no speed limit exists, save that caused by the vast traffio upon it. Java, he said, was a wonderful country, and a fine place for the car. The roads are good and conditions suitable. On first driving through the Continent he was in some dread of the frontier officers, and passing through Belgium he eventually reached the German border, but met no one. Driving for many miles, he at length came to a town, and reported himself to a constable, and explained matters—he had British numbers on his oar, where he ought to have had German ,' he had deposited no duty fee, and so forth. The officer was in dismay; it was a serious matter. He must take him to his l.uperior, who, in turn, too* a mild fright, but could find out nothing from his papers and books what to do, and advised the motorist to go on to the next town and report himself. " Well, said Mr Jefferson, " I did so, and went through the same performance with a similar advioe so frequently that, in dui course, I found mvself over the frontier into Austria!" In Ccnst.ntinople he could dc n 5 motoring. He simply drove in, was ordered not to use his car, and eventually drove out. The streets, however, are narrow, crooked, and unsuitable for motoring. Years before, when he took the first bicycle into Turkey, he had a similar experience, and wa 3 forbidden to use the wheel in the city, because it was immoral! In South Africa he met with great difficulties, there being no roads in many places, only mere tracks across the voldt; and it was gathered that that country was the worst visited—from a motoring point of view. Australia, he thinks, cannot be so bad. He was happier with what be experienced in the United States and Canada. The expansion of motoring in the big American cities is astonishing. Whereevor the motor, in its various forms, can be put into use, it is adopted. Some of the leading hotels in New York—the Waldorf Astoria and the Knickerbocker, for instance have scores of motor-cars or oabs for the use of their patrons; while Detroit, which claims to produce considerably more than half of the cars manufactured in the States, has one street, three or four miles long, almost exclusively lined with motor-fac-tories, sales-rooms, and garages. All the motoring Mr Jefferson had indulged in in Australia was on the trip from Sydney. He says the road is not so bad. It is passable, as roads in young countries go; but he was careful to compare it with the South African veldt tracks and the back roads of Canada. New Zealand had already been visited, both islands having been traversed pretty thoroughly ; and the Dominion was declared to be a charming place.