AUCKLAND TRAMWAY BRAKES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 81, 3 April 1908, Page 5

AUCKLAND TRAMWAY BRAKES.

PUBLIC ENQUIRY ASKED FOR.

At a recent meeting of the Management Committee of the Auckland Electric Tramways' Industrial Union of Workers, it was decided to respectfully ask the Government to institute a public enquiry into the condition of the brakes on the cars. A letter has now been forwarded by the secretary of the Union (Mr. Arthur Rosser) to the~Right Hon Sir Joseph Ward, preferring a request to that effect. In making the request, Mr. Rosser points out that his union is acting "not, only on behalf of its members who from time to time have been subject to arrest on charges of manslaughter on account of the failure of the brakes to act, but also on account of the travelling public who entrust their iives to the care.of the men." "In making this, request tor an enquiry by an impartial | commission," the letikr continues, "I am directed to draw your attention to the verdict of the coroner's jury at an inquest on the late Mr. B. Paul, who was run over by an electric car on October 16th last and killed. The verdict in question was to the effect that the deceased came to his death by being crushed by a tramcar, and the motorman in Charge was exonerated from all blame. The jury further expressed the opinion that the brakes acted insufficiently, and suggested that the Government be asked to appoint an inspector to examine the rolling stock of the Auckland Electric Tramways Company." Mr. Rosser further draws attention to the prosecution of a motorman named James Lowe on a charge of furious driving in Hobsonstreet on Christmas Eve, which he states was dismissed- by the magistrate (Mr. R, W. Dyer, S.M.) for the reason that the brakes were inefficient. "My union is satisfied," the leter concludes "that the company should be compelled, in the interests of the general public, to provide an ' up-to-date system of brakes—either the air brake, as IU Christchurch, or the magnetic brake, as in Wellington." . .