FROM CAPE TOWN TO CAIRO.

Shannon News, 25 May 1928, Page 3

FROM CAPE TOWN TO CAIRO.

CHEVROLET TO BLAZE A TRAIL

THROUGH EUROPE

TO LONDON

AND STOCKHOLM

Three South Africans accompanied by a dog were farewelled at the City Hall, Cape Town, at 1 o'clock on March 7th, when the Hon. A. P. J. Fouric, Administrator for the Cape Province, bade godspeed to C. V. 11. Lacey and his two companions who started with a Chevrolet standard car and truck on a 10,000 miles trail-blaz-ing, endurance run from Cape Town to London via Cairo, Stockholm, and Europe. This run is being undertaken by Mr Lacey and his companions on behalf of General Motors Sou'o African, Limited, for the purpose of demonstrating the durab.-'icy and re I .'ability of a car manufactured in South Africa. The first stages of the journey from Cape Town to Bulawayo will be comparatively easy compared with the thousands of miles through deserts, swamps and other obstacles which will be encountered on the remainder of the forty days' run to Cairo. The expedition will then continue from Cairo to Kantara, Gaza, Aleppo, Alexandretta, Konia, Kutaya, Scutari, across the Bosphorgs to Constantinople, Adrianople, Ruschuk, Bucharest, Milan, ..Zurich, Paris, Rheims, Boulogne, Calais across the English Channel to Dover, London, back to Harwich, across the North Sea to Autwerp, Rotterdam, Cologne, Hanover, Potsdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and ending at Stockholm. The party carries with it a large batch of official letters of introduction including one from the Prime Minister to the High Commissioner for South Africa in London, one from the Mayor of Cape Town to the Lord Mayor of LondonJ one from the Secretary of Externa', Affairs to the authorities of .all countries through which the expedition will pass, three from the Commissioner of Customs to the Controller of Customs in Salisbury, Livingstone, and Mombassa, seven from the chairman of the Board of Trade and Industries to the South African Trade Commissioners in London, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Oslo, Milan, and Nairobi and a permit from Rhodesian agents, Cape Town to enable guns and ammunition to enter Northern Rhodes-

ia. . Associated with Mr Lacey is , ,Mr Wilson, wireless expert, Mr R, Williams, motion picture photographer, and Mr G. Makepeace, of the Johannesburg "Star," who- will make the trip as publicity.man for the "CapeArgus" chain of newspapers. The truck is equipped with powerful radio receiving and transmitting equipment which will make it. possible for the expedition to keep the world informed of its progress from day to dajr. London and other important radio stations have promised to watch out for messages from the expedition, whose call sign is ABM, operating on a wave length of 20 and 40 metres. Low wave enthusiasts will be interested to learn that Mr A. E. Shrimpton, so well known in radio circles, is following the progress of the expedition.

A motion picture record of the entire trip will be taken, which, when completed, will be one of the most interesting of travelogues. Both the sedan and truck are standard models but have been equipped with special screens to guard the party from ,the insect pests, of the tropics. Rifles and shot guns are carried to guard against the wild beasts which will naturally resent the intrusion of man and his modern methods of transportation, disturbing, as it will, the sanctuaries of their mountains and marshes.

In the course of his valedictory remarks, the Hon. A. P. J. Fourie said: "This undertaking is of very vital interest to South Africa, and" I am very proud that South Africans are undertaking it. The members of the expedition are all South Africans and they are taking the products of South Africa along with them. The General Motors are the manufacturers of the Chevrolet car and it is up to the members of the expedition to show what the South African product can do and show in the next place what the Chevrolet can do. fe . "I take a very great interest in the work of the General Motors, Limited, because when I was in Port Elizabeth recently I went through their factory and found they were employing no fewer than 600 Europeans."