THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3825, 18 January 1877, Page 2

THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT.

Sib," — At length a lamentable and fatal accident has occurred on the railway, brought about by the blind parsimony of the authorities in not having the line fenced in, which it was their duty to have accomplished contemporaneously with the running of the first train. If this had been done, the poor unfortunate victim to official blindness would, in all probability, not have lost her life ; but no, they could boast through the newspapers of the Napier and Waipukurau railway being the best paying line in the North Island, yet, in their narrowminded penuriousness, they would not spend one penny to prevent accident or loss of life still now, that a sacrifice has been offered to their obtuseness. They may relax the purse strings, and do that which common sense ought to have dictated to them, should have been done while the line was yet in the hands' of the contractor, who, I believe, did make some feeble attempts to get the Napier portion of the line fenced in. Through your columns it has been over and over again pointed out the liability to danger and death that existed in consequence of the line being left lin an unf enced and , unprotected condition,to which the authorities turned their usual ear of deafness, and are now decidedly responsible for the death of the unfortunate woman, Mary M'Mahon, However, possibly this melancholy occurrence may be the means of preventing disastrous^ results of a far greater magnitude than ■■ this, and .it is to ! be hoped that the Minister of Public Works, who is now in Napier, will see the necessity of having the whole of the line fenced in, that is where it is possible for individuals, horses, cattle, or sheep to cross it. By doing this, he will clearly shew that he is more alive to the requirements of the people than his predecessor, the late Minister of Public Works, appeared to be. lam aware that Mr. Passmore has made repeated promises during the last eighteen months, that certain portions of the line should be fenced in forthwith, but, up to the present, nothing has been done in that direction, and the only wonder is that you have not had to chronicle many serious disasters, owing to that gentleman's or someone else's negligence. . In conclusion, it is to be hoped that this fatal accident will teach the authorities a lesson, and that the line will no longer be left in its unfenced and unprotected condition.-— I am, &c, Scbtttatoe. January 17, 1877.