Enquiries Into Railway Mishaps

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21196, 21 June 1934, Page 8

Enquiries Into Railway Mishaps

Reports of recent mishaps to railway trains, which happily have been unaccompanied by loss of life, have directed attention to the manner in which enquiries into the cause of railway accidents in the Dominion are conducted. Two correspondents, whose letters we print this morning, ask pertinent questions, which are entitled to an official reply. They point out that enquiries into railway mishaps are conducted in camera by officers of the Railway Department and ask why secrecy should be observed about a matter which is of serious and direct concern to the public. It is scarcely fair, however, to suggest, as one of our correspondents does, that the public servants are themselves responsible for the privacy of the enquiries, since they are conducted in accordance with the regulations of the department. Nor can any blame be justly attached to the present administration any more than to previous administrations for a practice that has hitherto excited little comment, and over which the public themselves have shown little concern. But custom is not always founded on sound principles and our correspondents are justified in attacking this particular custom on the principle involved. They very appropriately indicate that mishaps in other services for the transport of persons, animals, and goods are subject to full and open enquiry and appositely ask why the same form of investigation should not be followed in the event of a railway accident. It is true that after the departmental enquiry a report on the accident is made public; but that is not sufficient, trustworthy as we know the official investigators to be. to satisfy the people who use the railways and incur the ordinary risks of travel. Only one method of enquiry can be adequate and thoroughly satisfactory; that is an examination of all the circumstances in open court at which the general public or their representative.-; may attend. Alteration of the regulations to provide for such an enquiry would ease the public mind.