RIMUTAKA HILL
CONDITIONS REMAIN BAD
MOTORISTS NOT ADVISED TO USE ROAD.
HEAVIEST FALL OF SNOW FOR SOME YEARS.
Unless motor vehicles are equipped with chains or ropes, motorists are not advised to attempt to negotiate the Rimutaka Hill Road today. Although no snow fell during the night, snow was again falling at 6.30 a.m. this morning, when a Wairarapa Automobile Association patrol visited the hill. It is possible for cars properly equipped to get through, but great care has to be exercised on the bends, where the snow has been packed down into a surface like ice. There are about 9 inches to a foot of snow on the side of the road and about three inches on the wheel tracks. The conditions on the corners are particularly treacherous on account of the slippery surface, as, even with chains, it is difficult for the car wheels to get a grip and there is a possibility of the vehicle skidding ihto the water-tables. Yesterday Public Works Department lorries fitted with chains and carrying sand to spread on the road towed up the hill cars that had been ditched, so that the road might remain open for cars better equipped. Service-cars and other vehicles driven by men who use the road regularly and cars properly equipped for the conditions succeeded in getting over the road without great difficulty. The fall of snow on the Rimutaka Hill is said to be the heaviest since 1931. The whole countryside from the top of the Mangaroa Hill is covered in a sheet of white and at Kaitoke a thick coating is in evidence in all directions.
The Wairarapa and Wellington Automobile Associations’ patrols were on the scene all day yesterday, motorists and rendering assistance in cases of trouble. Although all motorists were strongly advised not to attempt to cross the hill, some who ignored the warnings later found themselves in difficulties. Although the ' patrol cars which were parked on the side of the road yesterday, may have given the impression to passersby that they had become ditched, such was not the case.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19390719.2.21
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 July 1939, Page 4
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347RIMUTAKA HILL Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 July 1939, Page 4
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