Page 112 - Bulletin 9 2005

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day trips to Hout Bay, and picnic outings became one of Cape Town’s leading attractions.
Whenever a prominent visitor from “The Old Country” was visiting Cape Town it was the

done thing to ask members of the Automobile Club to take him or her on a drive around the
mountain. The usual route was Constantia - Hout Bay and Victoria (Twelve Apostles) Road

back to the Mount Nelson. In this manner Mr. Hennessey escorted Mrs. Joseph

Chamberlain in his new Orleans car, and the owner of a Lanchester chauffeured Princess
Christian, daughter of Queen Victoria in 1904. (Fig. 3.6)

On the international scene, by 1905, the petrol-driven car had proved its superiority over its

steam and electrically powered competitors. The car was also no longer an object of
derision and the cry, “Get a horse!” was seldom heard. Indeed, it was becoming a status

symbol and an American writer stated: “The automobile is the idol of the modern age ……

The man who owns a motorcar gets for himself, besides the joys of touring, the adulation of
the walking crowd, and ……. is a god to the women.” (Quoted in Yergin, 1993.)

In August 1909, when Cape Town possessed only a few horse-drawn ambulances, a group
of motorists dashed out to Hout Bay to assist in transporting the survivors of the tragic

Maori shipwreck, below the Sentinel Peak, to Somerset Hospital and the Seamen’s
Institute. (Fig. 3.7) In so doing cars proved the advantages of machine over horse during

emergencies – as they were doing in countless other instances.

Motor car numbers continued to climb and their attainable speeds rose, and so the road

regulations again came under scrutiny. On 20 September 1912 the Royal Automobile Club
of South Africa arranged a speed demonstration for representatives of the Municipal Works

and Depot Committee. Arising from this it was recommended that the regulations be
amended to provide for a new maximum speed limit of 20 miles per hour. On 10 April

1913 the amended regulations were approved by the Administrator Sir Frederick de Waal.