ACCIDENT ON TRAIN

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 102, 24 January 1930, Page 9

ACCIDENT ON TRAIN

BOY’S FATAL INJURIES FALL FROM WAGON An open verdict, that death was accidental, was given by the Coroner (Mr. E. Page, S.M.), at the inquest yesterday, on Maurice Leonard Howell, aged 14, who died as a result of injuries received through falling from a train near Paekakariki on December 26. Senior-Sergeant Ward conducted the inquest, Mr. P. S. K. Macassey represented the Railway Department, and Mr. O. C. Mazengarb appeared for the parents of deceased. The deceased’s father, John Thomas Howell, said his son had left home early in the morning to attend a camp at Levin under the supervision of the Rev. Feilden Taylor. The guard of the train, William Joseph Quinn, said that after going through the last tunnel before Paekakariki he noticed a boy lying by the side of the line. Witness had the train stopped, and the boy, who was found to be the deceased, was picked up and placed in the train. He was unconscious, and there was a large bruise near the left eye. He was taken to Paekakariki and a doctor and the district nurse were summoned. The boy was lying on the right side of the line facing north, and at that point the line curved away to the left. The party of which the deceased was a member was travelling in a Z wagon, and the sliding doors on both sides were kept rigid by bars. The opening on each side was 2ft. 3in. In reply to Mr. Mazengarb, witness said that the only light in the wagon was an oil lantern. The doors at the sides had to be left open for ventilation. Those at the ends were locked and could not be opened from the inside. In reply to Mr. Macassey, witness said that from the position of the body it was obvious that the boy had ndt fallen from the wagon while it was in the tunnel. The Z wagons had been used for years when traffic was very heavy, and thousands of passengers had been carried in them. Witness had never heard of a similar accident. _ There was plenty ,of ventilation, and in the truck in which the deceased was travelling there were seats to spare. There was nothing to cause a jolt.

Two Doors Open. The camp assistant, Harold Grahame, said that only two of the four side doors were open at the time of the accident. In answer to Senior-Sergeant Ward, witness said the deceased had been smoking on the way out. There might have been a certain amount of skylarking earlier in the trip. A member of the party, Herbert Larwood, said that before the last tunnel was entered the deceased had his arm on the bar, and was very quiet. A little later he fell against witness, and then slid out of the truck underneath the bar. The deceased looked pale when he fell against him; and witness thought the cigarettes had upset deceased. Eric Manning said that deceased had complained that the smoke was upsetting him in a previous tunnel. On behalf of the parents, Mr. Mazengarb protested against the practice of carrying boys in such trucks. Had the parents known what the trucks were like they would not have allowed the boy to travel. Exception to Mr. Mazengarb’s remarks were taken by Mr. Macassey, who said the Department contended' the boys had been skylarking. Thousands of people had been carried in similar trucks without accident. Remarks by Coroner. The Coroner said there seemed little dispute about the facts. The substantial question was whether the barrier across the door was an adequate protection. It was apparent that with the truck in question,' under normal circumstances and with people of normal health and behaving normally, that there would be little danger in travelling in it. But if boys wgre skylarking or one near the entrance became ill and fainted, there would be little difficulty in falling through the entrance, In answer to a question of his Mr. Page said he was told that civil proceedings were under consideration, and it was therefore unnecessary for the Court to indicate whether, under all the ciwqjmstances, the method of blocking the door was a safe one. He would return an open verdict that the boy was killed by accidentally falling from the train.