THE WHIRR OF THE WHEEL.

NZ Truth, Issue 130, 14 December 1907, Page 8

THE WHIRR OF THE WHEEL.

i » : The , whirr of the wheel is more ronounced than ever m • Christchurcll just now, and the macadamised roads are 'scarcely observable ow- . ing to the dense mass of ; animated rubber quivering and prancing over them. The crouching figures on the top of the rubber are never tyred seemingly, aiid if they have to cross the street, they just ride across. If they're with'dut a .machine they just ring up the nearest syele shop to send one round. • ■Walking- appears to be out of the question with these l>llc; m fact, it, will soon. be a lost exercise with them. The stated' fact that some families cycle from one room to another when m their private homes may not be strictly accurate, but there seems to be some j foundation for the yarn. However, the city is honeycombed with cycle j shops, and repairing shops and factories, and tyre stores, and whatnot ; they .are more plentiful than apparel cleaning depots, or food emporiums, or rag-takers, shows, and the vast majority do business on the instalment plan— five bob to-day, five bob next year, and so on. It is a great scheme, and enables every child m the district who gets ten bob a week to scoot round corners ' like sheol, endangering his own and other people's lives, and making sedate old blokes and . obsese old dames almost drop dead from apoplexy, or bikeomahia, or something. The trade doesn't do so well as aforetimes, though, despite the great output of boneshakers, record shak* ers and scrapheap refuse, prices have been cut something horrible, so their financial returns are very .badly punctured m consequence*