TRAMWAY FATALITY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 138, 7 December 1918, Page 8

TRAMWAY FATALITY

DEATH OF MR. A. THOMAS CORONER'S FINDING. The inquest concerning the death of Mr. Alfred Thomas, foreman of the fit-[-ting-department of the Wellington Gas Company, ..who was ..killed as the result of a collision between two tramcars on 13th November last, was resumed before .Mr.. F.; V. .Frazer, S.M., a the Magistrate's "Coqit J;o.d'ay. ": Senior; Sergeant Willis represented the police; Mr. J. •O'Shea (City-^Solicitor), the-City Corpora-' i "tion'f Mr." H* F. O'LSary,' Motorman J. Scott (driver of one of the tramcars con--cerned); and Mr.-T. Neave, the relatives "of 3>he deceased. The"evidence of Motor;man Scott.'and that o| Frederick William •Furkett, superintending "engineer of the 'Public"W6rks~Xie"pai-tment, was published in last night's Post.

The first witness called to-day was Joseph-^Patterson Shand, stationer, residing'at'Hataitai, who was a passenger on the car travelling from Kilbirnie to the city,.,,He 1 boarded the car at the Hatait'ai^'stop, and it appeared to him that the speed exceeded that usually maintained,..by. the trams. The speed gathewxl as.;the car went down Elizabethstreet, and became "very fast." Witness felt that the brakes were not grip-; ping. He did .'not think there was any dlackeriihgf'ih ffie' speed' up \'U> the time of..thejacfiident..: He, dii.notsee deceased prior to the collision.

To Mr". "O'Leary:" His impression was that the .car.did not stop,in Pine-street, but he would not swear to this. He ;conld.;not-say..whether, the Brakes were applied in Elizabeth-street. ■ - -Robert^ • M-. Laucblan, superintendent of the test-room at the electric lighting station; "'anotHeV'passenger on the same car, said he noticed nothing unusual between - Hataitai and Kent-terrace. . There VWas': nothing; "exceptional about the speed down Elizabeth-street, but the speed did increase about 150 yards .from'_ Kent-terrace., He thought the car -took the bend into Kent-terrace at from 15 to 20 miles per hour,. As the car skidded on round the bend, deceased swung out, and a little later the Kilbirnie car-struck the Island Bay cai at an angle of about 30 degrees. Deceased lost his grip and Was thrown into tht> angle and crushed between the two cars. 'Mr. NeaveYlf the Island ' Bay car had received warning by the sounding of the gong on- the Kilbirnie car it could have stopped immediately.—l think so. -. ■ ■If the car had skidded for a considerable distance you couid not have failed td notice it?—l .think I would have noticed it. • Mr. O'Leary: You don't know whether 'the brakes"were applied or'not? —I have no idea: To Mr.' O'Shea, witness said he noticed a.flash from beneath.the car, and believed it was caused by the application of the magnetic brake. The flash occurred two car' lengths before the smash. : . Frederick William Young, the motorman on the Island Bay car, which was j struck, by, the,Kilbirnie car, stated that as he came along Kent-terrace the automatic danger signal.at the end of Elizabethstreet : showed clear. Witness was driving afc.a speed of 4 or 5 miles per hour. He first noticed the Kilbirnie car about 100 yards up Elizabeth-street,* when its speed appeared to be normal. Witness anticipated that the car would stop, at the bottom of Elizabeth-street, and did not know that it was ont of control. Evidence was also given by James Wilson Hodges, of Athol-crescent, and Sergeant Mai-tin. Duncan M 'Gillivray,' " traffic" superintendent, stated that Motoman Scott had been in the service for five years and was most reliable. Recalled, Motorman Scott corrected his previous evidence and stated that he was only 70 yards up Elizabeth-street when he applied the brakes. . The Coroner returned an open finding to the effect that deceased died as the result of injuries received hi a collision between two tramcars. He added: "The evidence" shows that one of the tramcars (No. 112) was out of control, and that the collision was due to this curcumstance, but the evidence is not sufficiently clear to justify me in finding that any person was to blame."