Through the Colony on a Motor Car.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue XVIII, 31 October 1903, Page 45

Through the Colony on a Motor Car.

When Messrs W. A. Ryan and Co. suggested my running through the colony on a motor car, I must confess I had visions of a mangled mass of wheels and works, and a few bachelor’s bones thrown in. I looked forward with anything but a happy feeling at lying on a muddy road on my back, trying to diagnose the many 7 natural shocks that a motor car is heir to (writes a correspondent). But I have finished this trip; have been through swamps and rivers, over clay roads, sandy beaches, across the Rimutaka, the Ziz-Zag between Lyttelton and Christchurch, the Horse Range, and the two other ranges between Oamaru and Dunedin, with 4cwt of luggage, and I have not had to get inside or lay outside while on the road, and not a single screw or bolt has broken. I was more than sorry to ship my little “Oldsmobile” back to Auckland. The road from New Plymouth to Inglewood was in splendid condition. After that we struck bad weather, at least not so bad for this district, but we had many miles into Stratford covering ourselves with mud. From Stratford to Eltham the road is fair, past Eltham you get into the worst road for a motor car—clay hills. There is a grade of about 1 in 10 in some places. We had an escort of Maoris on horseback nearly into Hawera, who were intensely interested, and when we got over one of the hills and were Bailing down the other side, they shouted. “By golly, kapai the pakeha,” and came after us for all they knew how. From Hawera to Wanganui is the best bit of road I have struck in New Zealand. It has a surface almost as smooth as

Queen-street, and the grades are just sufficient to make motoring interesting, and the scenery in the gorges is indescribably beautiful. The road right, io Palmerston North is simply splendid. Wc had rather an experience in crossing the Manawatu. The river was low, and it was with some difficulty that we motored across the river bed, and then the ferry could not be brought close enough for us to board, and we had to get rope and tackle to lift the car. Round the Gorge the road is bad and dangerous; in some places there was scarcely room for the car. After this, right to Featherston, except for 100 or so water races, it is all plain sailing. We started our climb over the Rimutaka. It is a nine-milc ascent, and though I was told by many that a four horse-power “Oldsmobile” eould not do it, we went up without a hitch. I am looking forward to a repetition of this trip, for in all my travels I have never met anything t*o fine as our run down on the other side. Wellington is not an idea] motoring city; the roads want planning, and I found it difficult to find a place to have a good run. From Wellington I sailed to Lyttelton, and here I met the worst bit of road of my journey, the Ziz-Zag between Lyttelton and Christchurch. The grade I am sure must be 1 in 5. I am told that, with one exception, no one else has tackled this bit. Over this wc are in that flat motoring province of Canterbury. I was very disappointed with the roads in the South. 1 had looked forward, and been told so much about them, that I looked for great things. I -took a trip in North Canterbury, and then went south. The road between Dunsandel and Rakaia is simply awful. It is just the virgin day, with ruts some two feet deep. The road to Chertsey is first-class, hard metalled and smooth right into Ashburton. Afterleaving Ashburton, we struck one of those roads that break a man’s heart. For nine miles we were sometimes up to our axles in muds, and had to plough away at the speed of about three miles an hour. You could not distinguish ■the spokes of the wheels. The illustration in the “Oldsmobile” catalogue of going through mud is a mere bagatelle. We arrived at the Rangitata Bridge, and then our troubles ended. It was between Geraldine and Tirnaru that I did my fastest run. I went through the deepest river at Winchester, the water coming over our footboard Wc ran from Temuka to Tirnaru in 30 minutes (12J miles). South of Tirnaru to Oauuaru the roads are fairly good. There are some rough bits, especially across one river bed. The water was rather high, and it is not the nicest situation to find yourself careering about in the middle of a stream bumping boulders. From Qamaru to Dunedin the road is a series of switchbacks, ranging in grade from 1-5 to 1-15. It was between here that I met with my only accident. Going down a hill the ear got away, and for the first time I used the emergency brake, with the result that it pulled ofi' •the back tyre and cut the valve off. There is no mistaking the breaking capabilities of this brake. We had to journey at slow speed in Palmerston and wait there, while a very obliging cycle man healed our wounded tyre. This delayed us considerably, and we left Pal-

merston at 11 o’clock and arrived at the end of our trip in Dunedin at 4 a.tn. There is a humorous side to motoring, and one wants to be a good tempered man. Once when stopping to oil my, motor, a little imp of a boy came up to me with a very serious face and said, “I say, mister, father says if you like he is going into the town, and you can lash your cart on to the back of his.” Another time, when stopping outside a tea room, a gentleman with a highlycoloured alcoholic nose said, “Governor, if you take my missus and kids for a run. I'll give you a blooming pig.” The funniest thing that happened to me was in a store in the South Island. 1 was running short of benzine, so pulled up at a small store to know whether they stocked it, and to my surprise they said they did. 1 told them I would take all they had got, so they brought a card with 12 bottles, about a quarter of a pint, at sixpence each, for cleaning clothes. Motoring would be an expensive luxury at this rate. I have been from February to the end of July on this car, and have stayed sometimes a week or a month in the big towns. I have used it to call on machinery users, travelling altogether 4030 miles, using about 8(5 gallons of oil. The car has done more than it was ever made for. Total number of miles travelled in this trip from New Plymouth to Wellington and Christchurch to Dunedin, and running about a month or so, is 4030. This is as correct as it is possible to get at. I have kept a log of each day’s run.