The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News, and The Echo. MONDAY. DECEMBER 4. 1882.

Auckland Star, Volume XVI, Issue 3840, 4 December 1882, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News, and The Echo.

MONDAY. DECEMBER 4. 1882.

B*or the cause that lacks assistance, 7or the wrong that needs reslstuct For tho future In the distance, And tho good that wo can do.

A terrible railway disaster has occurred on tbc Melbourne-Hawthorne Railway, resulting in loss of life and serious injury Ito thirty persons. The traffic on the Mel. bourne suburban railways has increased to an extraordinary extent. The Hawthorne Railway is a branch from Brighton line, and trains leave Melbourne every eight minntcs on this railway. The Hawthorne line is an exceedingly dangerous one, and some disaster upon it has long been anticipated. To serve the purposes of certain land owners, the branch was taken from the Brighton Railway at a paint where tbc junction is on the side of a steep declivity. The train rushes on to the main line at a sharp angle, and then goes headlong down hill at a tremendous speed, there being no possibility of stopping it, It appßar3 to have been at the turning point ot a curve,which made the approaching train invisible to the driver of the other engine, that the two rushing at full speed came into collision. The shock must have been frightful, and the wonder is that the mortality was not greater. Railway accidents have been rather numerous on the Australian lines lately, notwithstanding' that heavy compensation awards have usually been made to sufferers suing for damages.