A HEN’S JOYRIDE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 962, 3 May 1930, Page 1

A HEN’S JOYRIDE

Goes to Roost on Hood of Girl’s Car INTEREST IN POLITICS When a household fowl decided to roost last night on the hood of a roadster, it little realised that it would shortly earn the distinction of being the first hen in recorded history to attend a political meeting. It was pleasantly warm in the garage, and the hood was soft and nest-like. That was what the hen thought when sunset closed another fowlyard working day. But hens are not owls —they are not by liabit nocturnal. So, in due course, it was an astonished bird that smelt benzine and felt her perch throb and back out into the chilly night. From Mount Albert to the Hon. W. Downie Stewart’s meeting at Remuera was a long way, but the feathery passenger stuck it. The girl at the wheel could not understand what it was that so interested people in her car . . nor could comprehend the bulging eye of the traffic man who gave ner the right-away in Newmarket. Through the glare or Broadway, in and out among the traffic, the hen hung on. In time the roadster pulled up at St. Mark’s and the rider on the hood was still there. But all the politics had been shaken out of the scared bundle of feathers. Instead of dismounting, as others did who went to hear a former Minister of Finance, the fowl from Mount Albert tried to appear insignificant and buried her head in the hood, in the manner of ostriches in the sand. “So that’s why everybody was looking at my car,” gasped the girl. Yes, that was why. Fowls cannot be left unchaperoned on the public highway; they are liable to be impounded or eaten. The only thing was to take home the hen. Car and driver arrived back safely, but the hen? —No. “Dost. Between Remuera and Mount Albert, a hen. Hast seen sitting on car hood. Answers name of well—all sorts of names at the moment.”