CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 June 1916, Page 2

CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES

I'uiui the Uuulop Rubber Company ol Australasia, for thtt week ending 24'tdi June, 1916.

J r *is good but not surprising news to It arn that the motor cycle machine-gun sections under General Smuts in Africa have played an impoitant part in the w'oiik of driving the Germans from tho i.uit post ol their colonial empire. Tnu work of the machine gunners and of the despatch riders eliito was greatly f,it'ilt;ated by the fact that the German engineers had providled some fine roads - for their own use of course— in 'East Africa, and little* thought thnt they would-ever come to !be utilised to-their own undoing. Recent telegrams show that the opportunity was seized byGone ral Smuts in the middle week of March for road-repairing and other preparations for the rapid advance which soon threatens to cut from Germany the last of her oversea possessions.

I', is satisfactory to note that the majority of motorist*; in this country use Australian-mode tyres, thereby assisting what is now an important Australian industry. At the same time there are motorists who will have imported tyres irrespective of fclie fact that the local made article is in every way the equal of the o vol's en production, and in posts less. -ii this connection it is surprising to find that last year £227.000 worth of rubber goods, mostly car tyres, were imported info the Commonwealth. Tlils money went to enrich oversea papital and oversea workmen, when ff, couldi have been more loyally employed in furthering Australian industry and prosperity. The importation of"motor tyros into this country is at any time ngainst the advancement of the Commonwealth, but at the present juncture while the empire is fighting for freedom and civilization, the buying of foreign-made tyres is economically unsound and contrary to Australian interests. Brieif colbled particulars of the Duke of Westminater's fijie exploit in resouiug pj'isonoi'B from tho Egyptian desert by moans of an nnnod motor ear fleet, ueru published a few weeks back. Details of this great motor charge ere published in the Daily Mail (London) and will be read with interest by motorists. Four officers who took part in the exploit state:—"ln many ways fortune favoured uo, but it was only by complete disregard ot the tremendous difficulties andi a display, of high qualities of courage and resource that tho expedition was successful. The discovery of the pia>c-e of concealment was of romantic features. When General Lukiti re-oocupied Solium ho found that the enemy had burned the camp and the German owned muiiitiou factory near. Ten armoured oars, following the enemy's tracks, came upon a remarkable roadi which, in the desert, rims to Tolbruk, 90 miles into Tripoli. According to .English notions the road surface was execrable, but the arin-oiwed-oar enthusiast*, declare it splendid. Over it the oa/iis made b speed «f 33 miles an hour. At Aziza, 19 mile., from Bir Waer, the cars suddenly came upon tho enemy. They dashed ituo a Turkish mountain gun with two machine guns, killing every gunner by maxim fire. Then withoua "halt they charged in line over boulders, stiff scrub and sandy patches, the scattering

' foe taking to their heels at the approach of the magical instruments of the infidel. The charge was continued for seven miles, but the enemy thrown into the wildest confusion, could l.iot]s jo j-boj joj |)oS'Bi[o jotminj 0(j |on ngo of petrol. Many of the enemy were killed. Three field/ guns, nire machine guns, hundreds of rifles .uid *l*are parts, dynamite, travelling workshops and 250.000 rounds of rifle ammunition were captured. Some of the camels when caught in the raa.3;e of the machine .guns blew to pieces hp if struck by a high explosive and then burnt into flames*. It was found tliKt the Aralbs had ladion them with bombs and petrol. On returning to Solium the Duke of Westminster waa informed of a letter picked up is the rains of

Bir Waer, from Captain Watkin Williams to Nrui Bey complaining that tl.o Tarn prisoners were starving and ill and suggesting that medical conifuWa should be piocured from Solium. Tho ietter mentioned Bir 'Hakim us the place of the prisoners' detention. .Tver y prisoner andl refugee was 'onegated, but none knew Bir H'akiai, except a man who said he had fed a flock there over thirty years ago. Subsequently another man who had been guard over the prisoners was discovered The Duke asked permission to attempt tho rescue. Every man of tlie motor batteries sat up all night and nest day tuning up the machines. Tho batteries were .reinforced! by light cars carrying guns, and all the motor ambulances within travelling range of Solium were brought in. By midnight of March 16 wore gathered at the old Turkish fort, on tho ridge above Solium nine armoured RolVs-Ryce cans, five touring cars with guns, light cars with supplies and ambulances—42 motors altogether. No tourist trophy cars were over more carefully prepared than these At three o'clock on St Pat- | rick's morning the column moved out i of tho fort aoroes tho few miles of trackless desert till tho Tobruk road was picked up. Aziza, the scene of tho charge two days before, was reach- j ed in darkness. They halted for the j first rays of the sun to iight tip the sky behind them. The cars then hummed ahead, gathering pace as the shadows disappeared. At Go miles a small party of Arabs were disarmed, but the men were set free as there was no room for prisoners. For milee the track of a car had been seen. At 81 mill* a captured Wolsley belonging to the Royal Naval Armoured Oar Division was found with the engine in good order bu't one of the back wheels buckled. It had improvised tyres. A

great quantity of sheet rubber had been washedl up on the beach presumably part of a cargo of a torpedoed ship. The Arabs had rolled it up, tightly bound with camel hide, and fastened it to the rims with wire. An officer went out a, few days later for this ear and found it burnt. When the column hadi travelled 80 miles on the Tobruk road the cars changed direction. The two Arab guides were arguing will other they were on the right track. The man who had not seen Biir 'Hakim since boyhood thought they •were wrong. The other Aralb would not say much although circumstances iprovcd him a zealous guide. He thought the pace oiF the cans greater /than it really was and expected' to arrive sooner. The dlesert was now very stony butt the going watt fairly hard. A hundred miles went by, then 106; that was believed to be the limit of tihe distance, but etillf there was not the faintest sign of the Tara prisoners' camp. Brit-ween 110 and. 115 miles nobody spoke; the silence suggested fears of failure. A mile further on the Ariaib beooane animated. A mound was seen whilst through tile mirage appeared a small mountain. This, the guide said was tlie end of their journey. A halt was tailed. At two o'clock tdie Duke sent forward the armoured cans to attack. They raced up to witHin two hundred yartfe of the mound, and, as one would expeot, the first car was ' that oil Will'laim Griggs, the famous jockey, who regards this as the biggest of the classic races in which lie has tajken part. Before their relievers, the prisoners, totalling 10D, were standing silhouetted against the skyline absolutely motionless, silent as statues, dumb with amazement at the appearance of the strange throbbing fleet. At last one man threw off the sack covering and faintly cheered. The crowd staggered forward with the rolling gait of starved men, swanmed round the cars saying "Are we free " They could not be persuadied to leave the oars and slightly hindered the advance to taokle the guards, all of whom were subsequently killed. Meanwhile the remainder of the column seeing the prisoners Jeaive the mound, started a tremendous race to the spot. They ran abreast, oaring not for obstacles

or punctures, just tore forward as fast a» the engines would propel them, and ■the air was filled with cheers of the crews land the noisy exhausts. Tlie prisoners' condition was desperate. A heap of white slie|)»> showed that snails had been their staple diet. Occasionally they had goat flesh, but 'the atmoimt served up was reduced to the size of a skinned mouse' as one prisoner said. Some parties had gone out dlaily to find edible root*. These hndi been coflleoted from n wide area and as the captives' strength diminished the.v wade Oie painiful journeys with small (results. T think in fire days their ieenMirces would have ended." •