INTREPID MOTORISTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16338, 12 May 1927, Page 7

INTREPID MOTORISTS

TROUBLES IN TURKEY ANNOYANCE AND OBSTRUCTION (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received May 12, 11 a.m.) LONDON, May 11. Now that Messrs. M. H. Ellis and Francis Birtles, the Australian motorists, are at last clear of Turkey, it is permissible to reveal the annoyances and obstruction suffered at the hands of Turkish officialdom en route. At Beirut, after being informed that they could deviate and avoid shocking roads so long as they did not go near Ismid, naval base, the motorists were stopped by gendarmes and taken to lsmid by armed guards in a state of open arrest. Thereafter, Ellis, as leader, was virtually a prisoner, as ho did not move night oc day without an escort, awaiting the Angora Government's decision. In a letter Ellis says : "Birtles threatened murder if a hair of my head was touched." Ellis was hailed before tho naval commandant, who was provocaA tivelv rude and unrelenting. The resourcefulness of Birtles was largely responsible for his shadowing the escort, getting leave, and taking, hidden in his boots, Ellis' messages to the British Embassy at Stamboui. A, prompt reply came ensuring ills early release.

Messrs. Ellis and Birtles loft London on February 10 with the intention of motoring to Australia, tho journey heplanned ,to finish in Martin Place, Sydney..- ' '