A LONG TOUR.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13296, 27 May 1907, Page 6

A LONG TOUR.

CYCLING ROUND THE WORLD. A young man named W. T. Liddle, who Las' undertaken to make a name for himself by making a world tour on a. bicycle, arrived in Timaru on Saturday, and leaves to-morrow, on liis way through New Zealand. Mr Liddle, a Scotsman by birth and a draper by trade, went to South Africa as a member of the Scottish Cycling Corps or Despatch Riders for the Boer war, but the war was nearly hvct when they reached tlie scene. After spending four years in Capetown he was' seized with the idea of emulating some previous travellers, and set out, with his Royal Eflfield bicycle, th:i clothes lie stood in and a. penny in his pocket. One may wonder how he existed, but according to nin own story, the curiosity of people in legard to his undertaking, the sale of hiphotograph as a curiogr and lectures on his travels to cycling clubs when lie meet* with them, have secured for him, if not three meals a day, at all events a fair average of sustenance. As to sleeping accommodation, he has nob been " pernickottv" about that he carries 110 blankets. So' far he reckons that he- liaridden over 13,000 mile?, by going front Copetown to Pretoria across to Durban arid down to Port Elizabeth, in Africa; and from Melbourne to Cairn? and down to Sydney in Eastern Australia; a run from "1;111 It round by the Lakes to Timaru supplying a good fraction of the total. In crossing seas he works his passage, or saves from the generous gift* of sympathetic friends. So far he has got along very comfortably on the whole, without directly asking any one for a meal. At Dunrdin he was well treated by the, Cycling Club, and was given a complete new rig-out by Haliens-tern Bros., a thick karki suit that should last him over many thousands of- miles.

''What is his idea? What i>' he doing it for? What can he make of it?" are questions that will occur to most people. In reply to them, Mr Liddle says that- he will make a name for himself; that h_" keeps a diary and takes notes as he goes, regarding the industries and modes of lif-e of people, and of the scenery and townshe passe j -through, and these will make a, book some day; he also collects post-card views of towns (he has about 50(30 of these) and curios of all sorts as he ha:< opportunity, and these, sent, home to lifepeople from time to time, will make an interesting museum by the time lie ha - got through the task he lias Sc't liims-elf.

This includes, after the itour of New Zealand, a run through Western Australia, then a course through India, China, Japan, America, and Europe, which will have given him a trip " round the world on a bicycle." Cyclists may be interested to learn ilia, up to date he has worn out five, tyre covers ; that at Dunediu ho had to git his chain replaced for the first time arid also the rubber on the pedals. The inaehin ..■ is otherwise good, but looks the wors • for wear, and he intends to g:t- it completely done up "at Christehuroh. Tha: is not a bad record for a machine. Th • rider is a light weight himself, but. he carries a kit of about 691bs of book--, tools and sundries. The bicycle may br seen in Scott's cycle shop window : a"- 1 , all 4 -nthusiasts on see and luav "Mr Liddle at the Timaru Football Clu!>'< lliwns th : evening during a lecture on liis travels.