DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15930, 29 May 1915, Page 5

DANGEROUS PRACTICE.

<» ■ MAGISTERIAL WARNING. , I LEAVING TRAINS IN MOTION. NEW LYNN FATALITY. t 1; " This inquiry only goes to show once -; again the extreme danger of trying to b I alight from a moving train. It is dan- -' gerous for anyone to alight from a moving ' i vehicle more especially so i'or a woman, I II for her diesis may easily catch and cause t her to fall.'' These remarks prefaced the' I verdict, given yesterday by Mr. E. C. ' • Cuttea, S.M., who conducted the inquiry ' r ■ into the death of Margaret Mackay, a i b ! married woman aged 54 residing in New | r | Lynn. Deceased was lulled by a fall from I *>, a train at New Lynn station on the even- [ • l ing of May 21. J The first witness called when the in- ! k . quest was resumed yesterday was George ' ; Johnson an engine-driver. He was a pas- ; ■ senger by the train which left Auckland s ' at 9.45 p.m. on May 21. Deceased _ I travelled in the same carriage as he did. j I When tile train stopped at New Lynn ho r I noticed- that deceased, after going to the I 1 door of the carriage to get out, went back _ I to her seat to get a parcel she had left , I behind. As the woman stepped out on to r I the platform the train was moving. Wit- ' _ I ness, anticipating a possible accident, ; j ] went to the window. He thought he ' , j heard a faint scream, and ho felt the car- . j I riago bump. ' He then ran through the ' y , train to tell the guard what had hapI pened. The train was stopped, and the g i woman's body was subsequently found on i t ■ the line. The train stopped at the station '< 3 j prior to the accident for about two I; minutes, this being sufficient time for t i passengers to get on or off. The stop at ?' New Lynn varied from one' to five f ; minutes. e i In answer to Mr. E. Rackley. who apI peared in ihe interests of the Railway : ; . Department, witness said lie did not con- ; , j sider that the platform was sufficiently' j lighted. The train, he thought, had ; travelled about 45ft when the deceased l fell. I Evidence was given by William Henry ! 1I Malani, a carter of Hendersoi, who was ' f i also one of the deceased's fefio-w passengers. ] gers. He noticed her get up to leave the ■ i 1 train and then return to fetch her parcel. ' - I At New Lynn station Mrs. Drummond,' '! another passenger, noticed the deceased I j apparently waking from a sleep. Witness , , told her she had reached her destination. • I Witness, having left the carriage, told ; i the guard there was a lady to get out. j I i The last she saw of deceased was stand- 1 ' j ing on the carriage platform, 1 | Thomas Hall said that when he got, ) | out of the train he heard two women j t j telling the guard that there was a lady : 5 : to get out. Then he heard someone call i out, " She's jumped," after which he hurried to the spot where the accident occurred and found the deceased lying on the Hue between the near rail and the platform. In his opinion, the station was badly lighted at the lower end. i ' hi the opinion of another passenger, I ' S. H. Catchpole, the time the train j - stopped at the station was not long | 3 enough to allow passengers to get off j D I without undue hurry. ' I Thomas William Mortimer, a porter' 9 . at the station, said there were three I 3 j lamps (on the platform, all of which • I were burning brightly. I I Evidence was also given by James 1 | Hollow, the guard on the train, and by 0 | William Ernest Kemp, a porter, who was ' assisting him. The former said that he ": never heard anyone tell him about a d woman wanting to get off the train. 0 The coroner found that the deceased '' had met her death through cither jump'0 ing or falling from the moving '..rain. P It was clear that she had delayed a alighting until the train was in motion. e The coroner added that no blame was L " attachable to .anyone, and- that there was nothing before him to show that the lighting arrangements at the station i were unsatisfactory. Mr. J. H. Gregory watched the pro- , ceedings on behalf of the deceased's bus--1 band. e ~ " ~~ '