ACRES OF ROTTING CARS.

Taihape Daily Times, 14 July 1919, Page 5

ACRES OF ROTTING CARS.

V EXTRAORDINARY SCENES OF -. WASTE. 7 The most. delivghtfully peaceful sport ' within twenty miles of London, even * if its pe-aeefulness be disturbing Ito -the’ '|te.xpayex', is probably Kempton Park, WWl‘-.el*e thousands of aasnly motor cars -‘and. cycles are still p]acidlybl'ottin,<‘; Hand rusting‘ while awaiting demobilis‘tlation, said the Daily Mail of May 10. There are big cars, little ears, open 1 1 cars, closed‘ cars, lorries of allsizcs and v" types, trailers of'a kind specially use- ‘ ful to agrieulturalists and builders, a. ' few stray “caterpillars,” -a shed full 5 of “rubber neck” chal's—a-bancs, and -- the wheel-less bodies of some half- -’ do?'en'London <')nlnibuses.“ - 9 There are also motor bicycles by the “hundred; new ones iii crates, cratefuls stpiled up on «lorries, and stacks flung 'gdoWn in the open like so much coal, 3 ] and left to accumulate 9. rich red rust.

More fhan half of ‘this huge accumulation is unprotected By even t:lrpaulin, and parts of the ground are pockrnarkecl by large pools,_ showing the sites of reeenlt. morasses in which the crates were embefifled. ‘ No unseemly activity mars this pie.-zisani‘ spot. When a. press representative visited theformer racecourse he failed to witness any animation, save a certain liveliness at dinner—hour. 'l‘llere was :1 German prisoner in Itvhe grass enclosure in front of the grand stand busily looking at asniall sickle, and a couple of red-‘tah'bed officers near the mess. An incident was the driving past of :1. chassis inarked “Russian stock, for disposal.” ' No systemafic or serious atteinpdt seems to be m-a.'de to deal with; Hlls vast quantity of vehicles. Walking through the depot in the bright sunshine, the Daily Mail represenf:lti\'e came across parks of commercial ears ready for service, which, to all appo:7x_l‘.{lllce may be left in their present position for years and years to come.

Hundreds of other vphiclcs needing rc-pail‘ are being left exposed Fro every vaga.l~_v of the climate. Typical cases noted include Opel» came through the upholstery of which all the springs have burst; “dit.chocl” lorries gently rcposing on other lorries, so that the round and the damagctl cars are both out in the rain; heavy cars partly loaded with their ‘own wheels, which are embedded in a crust of clay six inches thick; motor bicycles flung down anywhere and anyhow, with rusting handle-bars and "frame work, the irretrievably damaged machines mangling their spokes with ‘those requiring only slight attention; cars whose new paint and 7tyres are ra.pid.l_v deteriorating alongside others from ‘which the paint and the 'va.rnish have so peeled off that the bodies look as ‘tliolltgllv_camolit;a'ge