MOTOR HOLD-UP

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12315, 7 April 1933, Page 3

MOTOR HOLD-UP

CAR STOPPED BY GRASS

DRIVER'S STRANGE EXPERIENCE.

An Auckland motorist had a strange experience during the weekend -qn the outskirts of the Hauraki Plains. was calling on a- farmer in a rather out-of-the-way place, at the end of a blind road. When he came to the turn off the main road there was nothing but a green ribbon running along the valley and • marking the clay road. Paspalum had taken complete possession of the track and was growing vigorous and strong, a forest of long seedheaded stalks at this time of the year. The motorist followed the green swath, and when he had gone some distance he was mystified at the sluggishness of his car. He stepped on the accelerator, but the car did not respond with its accustomed alacrity. Then the steering-gear seemed to be troubled with a mild form of the staggers, and he got into a ditch at the side of the road. It was not very deep, and he proceeded, but eventually the car refused to go another step. The driver got out, had a look under the bonnet, and, all seeming to be in order, he investigated the under part of the car. There, to *his astonishment, the driving rod was several times its natural size; it was wound round with a solid “serving,” a s sailors say, o.f paspalum grass from the gear-box to the differential, and it was wound so fight and so hard that it seemed as solid as, the axle. Divesting liimself of coat and waistcoat, the driver crawled under the car and with his sheath knife started to hack away the grass. It was a long task, and by the time he had got the rod clear he was convinced that paspalum, if properly treated, would make the strongest and harde«t rope that anyone could wish tor.