Children riding a bicycle with side car circa 1930
In Cambridge this week cyclists on footpaths are at the centre of complaints – in Te Awamutu in 1939, the debate was just starting… Meghan Hawkes reports.
Paterangi girls on bike
Children on bicycles were in danger from motor vehicles speeding through the Te Awamutu district and the borough council was asked to take action to avert the danger.
See: On the wrong path
Cr Brookes, though, was of the opinion that the children themselves were the real danger and should be taught how to ride bicycles. A local school headmaster said that juveniles were given frequent instruction by the teachers and the traffic officer, and they meticulously observed the instructions.
It was agreed that splendid work had been done, but that it was decidedly risky at present for children to ride bicycles on the roads, owing to the speed of traffic. Complaints had been made that children were cycling on the footpaths because of the hazards on the roads. The hope was expressed that the traffic inspector would take action.
The Te Awamutu Young Farmers Club held the first of a series of dances in the Hairini Hall. The hall was decorated with spring flowers, and blue and gold streamers, and was filled to capacity. The supper arrangements were carried out entirely by the men, who were complimented on their successful efforts. Music was supplied by Sid Strange’s Syncapators.
Meanwhile the Kakepuku Young Farmers’ Club held a debate on whether tractors were superior to horses. Arguments for tractors stated that horses could not keep going for long periods of work as tractors could, and the grazing for six horses would keep a dozen cows. In these days when mechanical knowledge was common among all young men it was not hard to get a man who could handle a tractor with a little instruction. Tractors could give a much heavier draught than horses and with bigger implements they were labour saving. Blackberry and gorse eradication could be tackled effectively only by tractors and the work could be carried on night and day. A first class horse team cost almost as much as a tractor; and in top-dressing tractors cut out frequent trips to the manure shed for fresh supplies.
Children riding a bicycle with side car circa 1930
In defence of horses it was stated that the breeding of horses was in New Zealand as important as it ever was. Horse breeders would not be carrying on their work if they had no future. In America where oil and petrol were as cheap as anywhere in the world the horse was not only holding its own but increasing in utility. During the Depression the farmer had returned to horse teams because he knew every time he turned a tractor crank three pence went up the exhaust pipe. Horses got hot and sweated when they were worked; but they did not go up in flames as a local tractor had done recently. On most farms the only working time to be met was the six hours between milkings and the horse could easily meet that. Tractors were not so flexible and there were countless light jobs on a farm which could be done only by a horse. It would be an interesting sight to see a farmer rounding up his stock with a tractor.
