TOILING ALL NIGHT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 7

TOILING ALL NIGHT.

SLIPS ON THE RAILWAY. ALL "CLEIAR. At last the Government Traffic Office has a moment to breaths freely. The storm which began to howl tlrrough the Wairar<ipa on Wednesday compelled men to keep anxious vigils here. When a railway artery is choked up or severed a message ltash.es along the nerves of the system, the telegraph wires, to the brain at Wellington, and the head 6ond« back advice for the hands , far away. Since Wednesday telegrams have poured into ■ the traffic office, and poured dut. Thero has been a very vigorous battle with the agents of destruction, and; man has won. The- tempsst strove hard for the mastery. Telegraph lines wpre blown down, and the task of communication between headquarters and the scenes of the slips was made very difficult. Once Masterton was available only by telephone, which is rather a trying method' of transmitting important figures and facts over long distances, at present. In.? trouble began on Wednesday night at tha Mangamahoo tunnel. When the 6.15 train from Mssterton reached this spot it -was deemed advisable to rim only r j an engine and a couple of trucks through to see whether all was ckar before the precious passenger freight was sent forwaTd into the darkness. Just when the advance guard cleared the cavern a mass of material fell down, isolating the passengers' carriages on the Wellington side. Ballast sangs worked hard in relays all night shifting the debris, and by Thursday morning the metalled way was light again, but as soon as this feat wa« accomplished a big slip blocked the routo at Mangatainoka. This accident entirely disorganised traffic on Thursday. PacsengeTS by the mail train and four others had to be transferred, and theTe was necessarily great delay. Yesterday trains for the north were run only as far as Pahiatua. However*, the lines wercf all clear by 3.30 this morning, and through traffic was resumed .to-day ; all trains are running as usual. There has, of course, bean delay to goods traffic, but "specials" will be run far into the night so that the department will bo up-to-date by the time the new week begins. For three days and three nights ballast trains worked incessantly. Tbsre was no stoppage. More rotten papa slipped down almost as fast as it was shovelled j away, but the men's patience lasted longer than the papa's perversity. "The line is in good order," was the answer to a question put to the manager of the Manawatu Company.