ON THE MERE MERE HILLS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15747, 11 February 1922, Page 8

ON THE MERE MERE HILLS.

ZOO LIONS' ROUGH CROSSING. "MERRY" ONLY FOR MAORIS. Boyd's travelling menagerie of lions, tigers, and monkeys, which has been doing a circuit of the country towns of the province since leaving Onehunga a couple of months back (says tho Auckland Star) had an exciting trip on Sunday in negotiating the notorious bad patch of road on tho Rangiriri Hills between Rangiriri and Mercer. On the ordinary country road tho menagerio en route is a stately procession of flvo large motor lorries bearing the big cages in which the wild animals arc confined. But on the stretch of rutted, scarred and soggy clay switchback at tho Merc Merc Hill's it became a circus that was anything but "merry-merry" for tho animals and their keepers. Making troubled progress over ruts and through clay which was at times uxTo-deop tho lorries'got slowly through tho bad going till tho More Mere patch was reached, whore the rough journey caused a fault in tho gear of one of tho lorries, which had to bo towed, and excitement was added to the journoy by tho breaking of the wire tow-rope. Further on the way tho breakage of the king-bolt of tho lorry holding a cage of flvo lions in separate compartments resulted in the fore-wheels coming adrift, with the result that the fore-end of tho cage dropped to tho ground, ollniting roars of bewilderment from the animal kings within tho cage as their floor space was thrown up on a sharp pitch. The roars brought a gathering of thirty or forty Maoris on the run from gum-digging camps round about, and they enjoyed tho circus what time they helped to get tho lorry once more on tho lovol and on tho move. Enthusiastic native labor helped another lorry out of difficulties in a deep rut, and tho natives, were then put to wild flight by tho' carriage lurching downhill info another deep rut and threatening to capsize and liberate the wild animals by tho wrcokago of the cngc. Fortunately, all tho cages stood the strain, and after having spent nearly twolvo hours In covering as many miles tho inenagerlo was helped on to smooth-going oneo again and proceeded on its way to the accompaniment of a Maori haka.