TO THE SCENE

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 72, 26 March 1938, Page 11

TO THE SCENE

BY PLANE AND CAR

"THE POST" GETS THE NEWS

As soon as it was possible for them to travel by air, two "Post" reporters, in the Marlborough Aero Club's Waco cabin aeroplane, and "The Post" photographer, in the Wellington Aero Club's Miles Hawk, left for the scene of the disaster.

So far all had been easy. There was now the task ahead of reaching the derailment, which, of course, was not in a direct line. For this purpose a taxi had to be engaged.

Where the derailment occurred is comparatively close to the sea coast, but by road it is some fifteen miles or more from Wanganui. The route by road is a circuitous one; it being necessary to describe from the aerodrome about three-parts of a circle before arriving at. Ratana Pa, the Maori settlement, and the small Ratana railway station. Where the train left the rails is a good mile further on from the pa, and to reach it it was necessary to cover the rest of the distance on foot, either through the paddocks or along the permanent way. The "Post" reporters were on the scene of the accident less than two hours after leaving Wellington.

UNUSUALLY HIGH

YESTERDAY'S TEMPERATURE

An' unusually high maximum temperature for March in Wellington was reached yesterday, when 78.1 degrees were registered. The average maximum temperature in March is 60 5. The last figure in excess of this in March was recorded in 1935, when 80 degrees was reached. The only other recording higher than yesterday's 78.1 degrees for the time of the year for the last twenty-two years was in 1916, when the reading was 80.4 degrees. The temperature yesterday has not been exceeded in March in Wellington on six occasions during the past eighty years.