AN ARDUOUS TRIP.

Southland Times, Issue 20538, 14 July 1928, Page 5 (Supplement)

AN ARDUOUS TRIP.

HEAVY GOING IN INDIA. Some exciting experiences have befallen Mr Francis Birtles who left London on October 20, 1927, to drive a British car to Melbourne. He traversed France, Germany, Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, and Greece. Here he learned that the Turkish Government had refused permission for him to journey through Turkey. This meant a change in the plans so he went by steamer to Alexandria—soo miles—and from there through the Sinai Peninsula on to Syria then across the desert to Iraq, Persia, Baluchistan to the North-West Frontier of India, thence to Delhi and Calcutta which was reached on January 6. He met with misfortune while in Persia, having his blankets and warm clothing stolen near Ispahan. On reaching Ispahan these were replenished through the generosity and kindness of a British Mission at that place. During his journey through Persia, about 250 miles, he found that he was taking all kinds of chances for the inhabitants were anything but friendly, but he eventually got through without mishap much to his satisfaction. Going through many places where a motor-car had never been or had never been heard of, he had many amusing experiences, particularly with the natives. When he hove in sight, the people fled in terror and only by the greatest persuasion, when they found that he was not a monster or his car some terrible weapon of destruction that they could be prevailed upon to come back to their homes. Being alone and unable to speak their language he could not explain what he was do : ng, but he was allowed to depart without harm, and continued on.

On reaching Calcutta he took a much needed rest of nine days, and here Mr Percy Stollery, a young Canadian, joined him. From Calcutta they have made the journey together. They left there on January 15, and started for the base of the Darjeeling Hills and then to Gauhati and Golaghat in Assam, finding the going pretty fair. From the last mentioned place a cut was made to the south into Manipur across the Bengal-Assam railway and to Impal. From Impal they met with the greatest obstacles for they had to cross the Naga Hills which no one but natives had ever done and they only on foot. No cart tracks, no roads, nothing but footpaths. In one side, the bank, on the other a sheer drop in some instances of thousands of feet. Where their journey led them down paths with danger staring them in the face at every turn they had to cut away part of the cliff to permit of a footing for the four wheels of the car and often had to rope it to prevent it going over the side of the cliff and then swing it round to safety. Then they had to cut their way through the most difficult kind of jungle. All this was very tiring and many a day went by when less than a mile in distance had been covered. Some days the bush would be so dense that their day’s work amounted to a progress of twenty-five yards only. Having overcome the most difficult part of their journey and doing what had never before been accomplished, they reached Tamu on the Burmese border. Tingsing and Tilin were then reached in turn; and eventually Pakokku, where they got their first puncture in 11,000 miles. What all the rocks, boulders, pointed bamboo and dense jungle from Manipur to Burma could not do, a bullock shoe nail did. Birtles arrived in Rangoon on April 10, tired and weary, but glad to be once again in a large city where amenities of life could be enjoyed and the car tuned up for the remaining 5000 miles of his journey. REPAIRING FLOOR MATS. A square of rubber cut from a dis-used large size inner tube may be used to repair floor mats as the point where they most generally wear, namely, where the right heel of the driver rests. Constant pivoting of the right foot from the accelorator io the brake pedal may wear a hole in the floor mat, and it is good idea to reinforce the material at this point. CAR CENSUS. WORLD ON WHEELS. NEW ZEALAND IN SECOND PLACE. In Australia we affect motor-cars to a remarkable extent (says the Melbourne Herald). This is easily explainable by our scattered population and magnificent distances. But New Zealand, where these conditions do not apply, is second only to the United States in its proportion of motorcars to population. The United States has one car to every 5.1 persons, New r Zealand one to 10.7, and Australia one to every 13.4 persons. The most rapid rise in the use of the motor-car, however, has been in South Africa, where during the last year the motor-cars registered increased by 27 per cent. New Zealand and Australia increased by 25 per cent. America has reached its motor "peak” apparently, for out of the 29,600,000 motor vehicles in use in the world, the United States possesses 22,400,000. It is curious and instructive to see how the seven million odd cars which serve the rest of the world are distributed. The United Kingdom has 1,025,000 cars, France has 891,000, Canada 828,918, and Australia comes next with 365,651, while New Zealand has 123,224 motor-cars. Between Australia and New Zealand, in the totals of cars registered, come Germany (319,000), Argentine (223,610), Italy (138,177) and Spain (135,000). Sweden, Belgium, India, Brazil, Denmark, the Union of South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, follow New Zealand in that order. Switzerland has 51,560 cars. Mexico follows with 50,476. Japan has 42,727 motor-cars for the use of its enormous population of 83,454,489, and has double the area of New Zealand. It is most curious to notice the discrepancies between the various parts of the world. That China, with its lack of roads, has but

18,928 care, is not surprising. But take the two islands, Iceland and Mauritius. Iceland with an area of 40,497 square miles and a population of 94,866, has only 335 motorcars, while Mauritius, which comprises 720 square miles, and has a population of 376, 474, of whom 265,455 are Indians, has 2626 motor-cars. The figures quoted take no account of motor-cycles, but include buses and trucks. There are 1,726,241 motor-cycles in use in the world on January 1 of last year. A study of the latest figures of the world census of motor-cars certainly gives food for thought. One smiles to notice the Ellice Islands of the South Pacific bringing up the tail of the list with two motor-cars, and wonders whether they are Rolls-Royces or