SHUNTING ACCIDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 191, 14 August 1925, Page 6

SHUNTING ACCIDENTS.

The shunting accident at Palmerston North since the Board of Inquiry into shunters' conditions was set up, has underlined the need for an investigation It has done more; it has provided fresh ammunition for those who desire the inquiry to be public. Serious allegations about the methods employed at the station were made by witnesses at the inquest, and the coroner said, among other things that could not go unnoticed, that the unrest and anxiety in the service were not to be wondered at. One cannot help wondering whether, if these allegations have any basis in fact, ihe conditions they reveal are to be found in other railway yards. In the circumstances the demand for a public inquiry is justified. The Prime Minister defends the closed door method on the ground that the matters in question are large'y technical and do not greatly concern the public. Death and mutilation arc involved, however, and these do greatly concern the public. Mr. Coates recognises this, for he has agreed to eviden-e being taken publicly at Palmerston North. He should go the whole length. In reporting the inquiry the Press would not concern itself with technicalities, but it would let into Departmental methods the light which they need.