CAR MAROONED IN STREAM

Southland Times, Issue 23990, 4 December 1939, Page 6

CAR MAROONED IN STREAM

HORSEMAN GOES TO AID OF MOTORIST To be marooned in their motor-car in the centre of a fast-moving stream was the unpleasant experience of a party of Invercargill residents on Saturday afternoon. It was apparently their unlucky day for the incident was followed, only a few minutes after their rescue, by two more minor mishaps. The car, in which three prominent business men in the city and a reporter of The Southland Times were travelling, was returning from the official opening of Birch and Company’s new saw mill at Tuatapere and was the first of a line of about 14 cars to reach the Rowallan Creek, which had to be forded. The road, which traverses several miles of beach, is comparatively new and there is no bridge. The time of-departure from the mill was arranged so that the stream could be crossed more than an hour before high tide. Because of wrong information about the time of high water, however, the tide was almost full when the cars reached the creek. The first car moved into the stream and the engine stopped when it reached the middle. Efforts to restart the engine failed. The water, which was about three feet deep, was now pouring into the interior of the car which rocked slightly with the motion of the tide. Over the floor in the back of the car there were nine inches of water and the two passengers removed shoes and socks and watched with apprehension as the water approached the level of the seat. As the passengers were preparing to leave the car, help arrived in the form of a man, a horse and a rope, and the car was pulled to the other side. Assistance was also given, where necessary, to the other motorists. < About 100 yards further on, the car became bogged in soft sand and the horse had to be requisitioned again. Ten minutes later the third mishap occurred and this time two cars were involved. The vehicles sank into deep loose gravel along the beach and it was some time before 12 men, equipped with spades and shovels, were able to restore the cars to the road.