TRAFFIC HELD UP.
A STUBBORN AIOTORIST,
AUCKLAND, Aug. 14
Aii extraordinary attitude was adopted by a motorist passing the flooded township of .Mercer yesterday, resulting,, in the obstruction of traffic for some time.
Trouble started at about noon, when the motorist declined to pay a fee of 5s charged for a tow through the flood, and attempted to proceed under In’s car’s engine power. As was expected, the engine stopped when in deep water. Every possible device wra tried to start it again, but without avail. - Offers of a tow at double rate, always charged when a as this occurs, were rejected. The motorist declared that if he was not pulled out for 5s he would stop there all day, and he defied horsemen or /anyone else to shift.him. Then the motorist divested himself of his boots and socks, rolled up his trousers, and, wading about in the cold water, unsuccessful/y attempted to push the car along. Several other motorcars were waiting to pass, but Were unable to do so. The motorist was in the middle of a narrow road, nnd could not go oji, nor would ho allow his car to he towed hack, though horsemen now offered to do this free of
charge. Excitement was at high tension, and many cars were waiting to pass when Constable Douglas arrived. The cur was soon moved aside, leaving the road clear. The matter did not end here, however, for the motorist manoeuvred bis ear back to the centre of the road, obstructing traffic once more. 1 lie crowd cheered and offered to pass round the hat to pay for towage. This offer, as well as one of financial help by a waiting motorist, was refused, t ndor Constable Douglas’s instructions, tbo car was again moved out of the way, and there it remained from noon until 5.30 p.m., when it uas towed nwav by one of tho motorist’s own horses, which had been brought to Mercer in response to a telephone message.
The. last seen of the motorist was when he was helping to push his car *up Polceno Del at f) p.m. on the way to the nearest garage.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19260817.2.28
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hokitika Guardian, 17 August 1926, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
360TRAFFIC HELD UP. Hokitika Guardian, 17 August 1926, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd is the copyright owner for the Hokitika Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in