PUBLIC SAFETY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, Page 16

PUBLIC SAFETY

EFFICIENCY QUESTION MINISTER TO GIVE REVIEW SPECIAL INQUIRY IF NEEDED [nv TELEGRAPH —PRESS ] WELLINGTON, Friday

In a statement this evening, the Minister ol' Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, announced that immediately on receipt of the finding of the inquiry board in connection with the accident to the Wellington-New Plymouth excursion train near Ratana and the coroner's finding as to the cause of the fatality in the Aylesbury accident, which are at present sub judice, he intended to release for publication a comprehensive statement reviewing main lino derailments and train accidents during the last few years and up to the present. "In this statement I propose to cover the ground as fully as possiblo and deal with the reports of departmental inquiry boards which have investigated each accident," said Mr. Sullivan. "I will outline in detail the special steps that have been taken since the Government assumed office to ensure tho safeguarding of the travelling public and the methods adopted to improve tho equipment and personnel so that the department might be in a position efficiently and safely to handle the increased business entrusted to its care.

"If, when the whole position has been reviewed, and in the light of the unfortunate accidents that have recently occurred there is anything not explained to the satisfaction of the Government or from the viewpoint of the general public, 1 will take appropriate action at once to have those matters investigated bv a competent tribunal constituted similarly to the inquiry board now appointed to investigate the Ratana accident. If the facts brought out in the review establish the desirability in the public interest of holding such an inquiry dt will, of course, be open to the public."