MAIN TRUNK DISASTER

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 14, 17 July 1923, Page 4

MAIN TRUNK DISASTER

SITTING OF BOARD OF,

INQUIRY

.WET WEATHER AND NATURE OF

COUNTRY

-The board appointaiS. to inquire into the recent disastrous accident on. the Minn Trunk line at Oog-arne sat in Wellington yesterday, and took the evidence o£ an engineer (an officer of the Public iWorkg Department) in .regard to the nature of the country where the accident happened, also of officers of the Railway Department and of two police officers who were passengers on the train •when the accident happened. The members of the Board of Inquiry are Mr. j m G. Riddell, S.M., Mr. J. March- j banks," C.E., and Mr. J. ; P. Maxwell, CJE. ■' ' " vMr. H.-H. Sterling apfV»i"<d for the Railway Department.

his address after "The Post. went to press yesterday, Mr. Sterling said lie did not intend to place the Department in the position of defeiidant... The Department was there in order to assist iv the elucida&on of the facts. In addition, to. the evidence which would be submitted, the Department would be pleased to call atry further evidence which the board mig&t desire. The Department, would be plaased to any- suggestion of the board arid act upon it.. They were to a certain extent dependent upon newspaper reports of what occurred. He was pleased; to say that the complaints had been practically nil. A., bright feature following the accident had been the 'heroism" shown by those who had suffered injuries in the carriages which were telescoped. ' '• . . . ■; . The first witness called was Charles John M'Kenzie, Assistant Engineer-in-Chief, Public Works Department, who gaye evidence as to the original location of- the line at the place of the accident. Because of the river and the hills, Keisaid, the place chosen was practically limited to that selected. . It was not considered a particularly dangerous place. The ground was mostly pumice and boulders. What 'was considered a safe batter was made in the cutting. The boulders,- which weighed sometimes two or three hundredweight; were removed when seen during the making of the batter. .' . ■ '

Detective J. Walsh, "flfro was a passenger on.the train, said that the speed of the train was decidedly slower than that at which the express usually travelled. In the rear carriages the jolt at the' time of' the accident was not, severely felt. . Witness described the scene soon after the collision, and stated details as to the rescue work. He and others removed the wonnded as soon as possible, some of them to the carriages in the j.rear of the train. When witness entered some of the "sleepers" he found ths~ occupants still asleep. He aroused them, and got them "■ to vacate the berths. -The injured were fnen placed in-the vacated berths. In view of a certain statement which' had been published, witness ' assured the board that the: deaa'lvfere-tif.eUted.'with every reverence. .Everything possible was done for the injured that could b&_d°ne under the circumstances.'"'"..'. 1..-''-'; . ..■'"■:;

In answer ..to, Mr. Maiwell, -witness said that-the.boulder vfhieh. caused the derailment .'.oil'the' engine' and carriages was about tlire'e feet or more in. height, and was longer,th^ii ttiat.-: 'The'boulder was clear of the slip,- arid "was standing out by itself, -when .he/saw:it.■:.'. ::" rry\\ Detective Eevell, who '•■was. .also a. pas-, senger .by the train, gave. evidence as tojthe condition of the telescoped Carriages. 'When he first saw. the smashed carriages, the slip was still coming down ou,-.to the line. The slip consisted oE thin mud. almost all water. He described "-the rescue work, which was carried o:i''with the assistance of. jack, axe, and crowbar. There were enough tools to carry out the rescue where Witness was working. In his opinion, there was ho delay in rescuing the injured, and there wa3 no complaint of lack of rescue tools. He' was surprised at the quickness with Which i.the relief train arrived. . Those wfr6 had been' engaged busily in the rescue work "-"were just about ready for it wheii:,the"i.elief train came up. When het^VsSrt,""a"lorig .to the scene of the acci derrt the "mud was still coming down ou••the broken carriages! The engine seemed to have gone through.the slip. KAIL WAY " OFFICER'S EVIDENCE.

Robert' S. Kent.' district engineer, Greymouth, said that he was formerly in charge of ■ the section o£ the line where the accident happened.; The location of the line was considered safe at the place of the accident. The cutting was quite, a' light .one: It was possible for a slip to come down between the time of inspection by railway workmen arid the time when a;train passed. He. was there during one wet season. Slips' occurred then, but not anywhere . near Ongarue. Daylight running would not prevent all accidents caused by running into slips in that, district, because. tht* curves were so sharp. The extent, of the vision ahead would in some places be., limited to 40 or 50 yards. ' If "the train had been running in daylight instead of in the dark, the accident could not, in his opinion, have been prevented because of the curve. '

The ..Chairman: "There would have been moire chance to have applied the bra'k-es.'" " ' ' " -

Witness replied that in a nine-chain curve he thought the view would not extend more than forty yards.

Frederick Charles Widdop, supervising enginer, Railway Department, said the slip was a small one—about 4& yards at most. A "pocket" had slipped out of-the face of the cutting. What struck ■witness was the amount of water seeping out of the face. of the cutting, about half-way down. The water was coming but like a spring. ' Owing to the bank being covered with fern and bracken, there would have been "very little possibility of the slip being- seen, even in daylight. ]?rom his inspection, ■he would say that the cutting- was well formed, and the batter Was sufficient. Even if the fern had been cut, he did not think the slip could have been seen, owing io the sharpness of the curve. The vibration of the train might cause a slip, especially in wet weather; -"but the place where the accident happened was not a spot i which would be regarded as dangerous. •■ . The Chairman: "Don't you think the seepage would have been noticeable to a ganger passing along the lino?" Witness replied that he did not think so: the fern would probably have prevented a person seeing the seepage. The , Chairman announced that, .the Commission '.would proceed to Tituniarunui, and lake evidence there on Wed-nesday,-and would also view the scene of the accident.. After hearing- evidence at- tWmarunui, further evidence ■ .would b< taken in Wellington. :