THE JOYS OF WINTER MOTORING

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 272, 13 August 1919, Page 9

THE JOYS OF WINTER MOTORING

AND ITS DANGERS

When a big 5-ton motor-wagon falls down a stoop bank from a road it lias to bo got up again, and invariably tho fall is easier tuun tho recovery. ' This proved to 1m the case with tiio Municipal Milk Department's lorry, which' went "over the top" last Saturday week oft tho Paekurariki Hill Road, aid was miraculously saved from destruction by tho kind oliices of n'u ironbark telegraph polo, which was-carried'from tho vortical to tho lateral by tho weight of tho big vehicle. Not only that, but tho lorry -was actually balanced on tho polo; To recover the .wagon was not ft tusk for amateurs, because at tho point the hill rises'as .steeply above the road as it descends below it, and tho rotten rock composition of tho ground' ' gavo very poor holding. What had to bo done was to sink a successiou of posts up tho .hill, strut them as well as possible, and wire tliom togethor, in order to get something .that would take- the weight of tho fallen wagon. Then with blocks and tackle, and tho aid of a big 15 h.p. Thornoycrof t wagon,* the milk lori-y .was hoisted up on to tho road again.. On examination it was* found that tho wagon, had sustained no damago '-.whatsoever. It wsilt to Otaki on Thursday night propelled by its own oiigiiie, and oamo into town with a full load of .milk tho next day.

. Tho motor inspector'(Mr. L. S.'Drake), who superintended the operations, said that tho joh was an arduous one 'qwiiifr to the poor .'ground and tho steepness of (ho grade of tlio hillside, which was against tliein. It rained continuously tho whole time, a.nd every now and then they had U» stop in order to allow motorcars, to gp by. A count was taken on Thursday, and it was recorded that (iu cars passed ono way or the other, including only sonio two or throe lorries. Tlio majority wero touring cars. "I measured the width of the road at tho point whoro tho wagon went over, and.found it to.lie only nine feet," said Mr. ,'J'Jrako, 'The road all tho way from town to Pnckakariki is in a shocking condition. Ju iVgahauranga Gorge it is positively dangerous, and it is awful'on the Paekakariki Hill. The work .' of widening the road on the other (Paekakariki) tiido is being commenced, but about half a.mile on this siclo the lop timbers of a ouJvnrt over which th.o road passes have fallen in, and there is a big holo in the middlo of tho road."