Bell Bus, Ahoy!

NZ Truth, Issue 1191, 27 September 1928, Page 6

Bell Bus, Ahoy !

A WOMAN who did — and who. continues to do — is Mrs. Bell, who, for years, was the only woman busdriver m the Dominion. She has now a rival m Gisborne, but still holds most of the bus-driving-laurels to be gathered m this country. At the time of the war, Mrs. Bell was m the Malay States. Taking a flying leap from there, she arrived — ■ complete with ambulance — m war-time Paris. Paris, refuge of the wounded and of those freed for a few days from the horrors of the front, was probably at that time the niosi tragic city m the world. Mrs, Bell saw the war through, her last months of service being spent m England, where she was the last .^ambulance driver to leave the military' hospital at Walton-on-Thames. For seven years Mrs. Bell, assisted by her dog, "Towser," a chummy, wirehaired terrier with a weakness for silk stockings, "has driven her observation bus through Wellington's rain or shine. She is now on the Khan - dallah run— a slippery business. • "My next venture will be m the air," says Mrs. Bell, explaining that the possibility of forming a club m Wellington — where women and men alike would be taught to try their wings— has already been seriously discussed.