LATEST MAIL NEWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23057, 7 June 1938, Page 14

LATEST MAIL NEWS

TUBE COLLISION LONDON TRAGEDY SIX KILLED, 60 INJURED RUSH-HOUR ACCIDENT SHOCK FOR THE PUBLIC [kbom our own correspondent] LONDON, May 18 It is 31 years since a passenger was killed on the underground railways of London as the result of a collision. The public was horror-struck yesterday morning to find ambulances and fire brigade appliances rushing to Charing Cross underground station, on tho Emiihnkment, to cope with tho needs of a. number of people who had been injured in a collision, at about 10 a.m., because a moving train ran into the back of a stationary train a short distance within the tunnel. The time was just past the peak of the rush-hour traffic, but both trains were full. Many passengers were wellknown people; the majority were workers going to their city offices. There were six deaths, and the injured numI bered 60. The two rear coaches of the front train were forced into each otner, and, although not actually telescoped, were raised until the top of the coaches almost touched the roof of the tunnel. Several of the passengers who were killed, and those most seriously injured, were taken from the more forward oi these two coaches. Rush to Beach Safety When the impact happened many of the passengers did not realise at first how serious it had been and sat quietly waiting or attending to those in their own coach, who had been injured, expecting'that the train would move on. The lights were still on, brat a steel plate falling from one of the trains struck the negative and positive rails, caused a bright flash and a deep boom which many mistook for an explosion. The lights failed, and the strong ■mell of burning caused by the fusing of a cable led to an alarm of fire. In some of the coaches there was a rush to break windows and jump down on to the line, and in so doing a number of persons who had escaped the effect of the collision were injured, many by broken glass. ' The accident occurred so near Charing Cross and Temple stations that help was soon available. An S.O.S. was sent out to the police, fire brigade, ambulance stations, and the neighbouring hospitals at Charing Cross and Westminster. Rescuers found that the main difficulty was how to deal with the most serious cases in the two rear coaches of the Barking train. In order to get to th,em it was necessary to re*move the sides of the coaches. Hugo hydraulic jacks and acetylene cutters had to be employed, and it was not until two hours and a-half after the accident that the last trapped passenger was released. Karnes of those Killed * Wreckage was strewn over both lines and rescuers were hampered by lack of space. Those killed were:— Richard Farden, aged : 50, The Gattons, Royal George Road, Burgess Hill, Sussex, a partner in the firm ol R. Farden and Sons, silk agents, Gresham Street. Mr. Eric Gallatly, New Cavendish Street West, partner in the firm ol John Gallatly and Sons, timber agents, Arthur Street, E.C. Mr. D. M. Jephson-Norreys, aged 3d, of Mallow Castle, County Cork, of the Manor of Mallow, and of Gresham House, Old Broad Street. Mr. David Frank Sturdee, aged 19, a medical student of Guy's Hospital, whose home was in Deal. Mr. P. A. B. Drummond, another Guy's Hospital student. , en Mr George Joseph Wallis,_ s.ged SU, of Hassocks, Sumy, managing clerk -to a London firtn of solicitors. Mr. F. Gilchrist, clerk to Mr. Jus- * tice Churles, was among .those badly injured. Mr. Norman Birkett, K.L., and Lord Hyndlev, a director of the Bank of England, were involved in the accident, but escaped injury. The coroner told the jury, at the fnquest on the victims of the accident, that an inexperienced porter at lempie Station was told by telephone irom Charing Cross of a signal wiring fault at the Tatter Btation. He was unable to understand what was meant by the porter at Chaving Cross Station, but eventually realised its seriousness and rushed to stop the trains. He was a minute too late. , A verdict of negligence was passed en two employees, although the jury .found that it did not amount to criminal negligence. new ship ordered PASSENGERS AND CARGO DOMINION SERVICE [from oxTr own correspondent] LONDON. May 18 The New Zealand Shippiug Company has ordered a passenger and cargo vessel from John Brown 5,' Company, Clydebank, Glasgow. She will be a sister ship to the Essex and Sussex. The contract is the largest mercantile ,order placed with a Clyde yard for several months. The new vessel will have a length between perpendiculars of 530 ft.. a breadth of 75ft.. and a depth of 47$ ft., and she will have a gross tonnage of about 11,000. The propelling machinery will consist of two sots of Brown-Doxford op-posed-piston oil engines designed to develop a total of 9800 horse-power. LAUNCH ON FIRE ' NEWCASTLE FERRY OWNER'S NARROW ESCAPE [fßom oun own corresi*ont>kntJ SYDNEY, June :i A ferry launch, the Unit, owned b.v Cox Bros., of Stockton, caught fire while on a trial run in Newcastle harbour yesterday. The flames spread quickly along the superstructure, and Mr. Mervyn Cox, who was alone on board, had to jump into the harbour to escape. He received slight burns to the head and arms. Mr. Cox was picked up by the Jocelyn, another ferry which was in the vicinity. The Unit, still burning, was subsequently towed upstream by the vehicle ferry Kooroongaba. on board which a fire engine from Newcastle headquarters station had been placed. The firemen faced a difficult problem because if too much water was played on the flames the ferry might be sunk. They decided to play a high-pressuie hoae against the burning superstructure. Tnis forced the section in which tha fire centred overboard, and the flames elsewhere were soon mastered. ■■

AIR SERVICE SINGAPOEE-SYDNEY START OF FLYING-BOATS FIRST WEEK IN JULY [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Jane 3 The flying-boat service between Singapore and Sydney, it is confidently expected, will begin in the first week in July. . , The managing director ot CJantas Umpire Airways, Mr. Hudson l<ysh, who, by making this statement, cleared away the existing confusion as to the starting date, said the preliminary service would bo one flight a week in each direction. By the middle of duly this would be increased to two services a week, and the full three services weekly wore expected to start in tho first week of August. ... n , it was not until then, said Mr. l'ysh, that mails would be carried under the new conditions, and that the services would be considered officially opened. Any mails carried by the preliminary service would be at the old postage rates. Work at Bases Well Advanced Work, ou the flying-boat bases at Sydney, Brisbane, Gladstone and Townsville —as well as on those in the Netherlands Indies, at Batavia, Klabat Bay, Sourabaya, Bima and Koepang has advanced sufficiently to ensure their readiness to handle traffic when j the service opens in July. j Fifty men. who reached Groote Island last month are erecting control buildings, a power station, refrigerating plant, radio equipment, a jetty, boatshed, flying-boat and launch moorings, water supply and sanitation. For refuelling the flying-boats, a bulk storage tank is being installed by 17 men, and a pipeline is being laid 800 ft. from the tank to a buoy for filling the tank from tankers. Three civil aviation officers will be appointed as a skeleton staff at each of the flying-boat bases at Townsville, Gladstone, Brisbane aud Sydney next month. Four men —a control officer, station engineer, coxswain and deckhand —will comprise the initial staffs for both Groote Island and Karumba, but these men will soon be supplemented by a radio officer, meteorologist, cook and others, making the total permanent staff 10 or 12 at each station. Delay Over the Tasman Link With the inauguration of the England-Sydney service, Australian authorities are concerned at the delay in the completion of arrangements for the Tasman service. An inspired newspaper statement from Canberra blamed the New Zealand Government for this delay, but an indignant denial from Mr. Savage that his Government was to blame was cabled to Australian newspapers. „ _ , The Australian Minister of Defence, Mr. Thorby, who is in charge of the Australian negotiations, replied to this denial, stating that the attitude of the New Zealand Government had made further negotiations with the British Government necessary, and the service would probably not commence until the end of the year. The New Zealand Government had raised certain points that did not come within the scope of the agreement reached at the conference between representatives of the Governments concerned held in Wellington last year. I am not able to disclose what those points are," Mr. Thorby said, "but the position now is not the same as it was when the conference took place in Wellington last year. The Australian Ministers now in London will be discussing the position with the British authorities while they are there." No date had been fixed for the conference he had announced some weeks ago. MR. ANTHONY EDEN STILL OUTSIDE CABINET SOME SURPRISE IN LONDON MR. CHURCHILL AS CRITIC [from our own correspondent] LONDON, May 18 In one or two quarters there was some surprise that Mr. Anthony Eden had not rejoined the Cabinet team, or that Mr. Winston Churchill was not given a responsible appointment when the recent reshuffle took place. Mr. £den remains outside the Cabinet since there has been no change in the foreign policy of Mr. Chamberlain with which he differed and presumably still does. As for the possibility of Mr. Churchill taking over a Cabinet post again, this suggestion is now becoming something of a hardy annual. It is recognised that Mr. Churchill exercises a great deal of influence in the House, and that he is one of the most outstanding of the Government's critics. NIGHTMARE VOYAGE BRITISH TRAMP IN GALES BOMBS ONLY THING MISSED [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Juno 3 Injuries and sickness on a nightmare voyage of 75,000 miles reduced by a third the original crew of the British tramp steamer Wellington Court. Storm-scarred, without a square inch of paint on her bows, and with a list to port, the tramp reached Sydney this week. Twelve of the original crew of 36 had been left in hospitals at one or other of the 40 ports visited. None of the ship's original seamen remained, the stoward and fourth engineer had been put ashore, and only two out of eight firemen were left. The remaining members of the original crew took to their bunks after reaching Sydney, worn out after fighting successive gales. Eight hundred miles off Bermuda, in February, two stokehold ventilators were wrenched out of the deck of the Wellington Court. Fighting this gale used so much coal that tho vessel had to put into Bermuda for more. In' March, the Wellington Court weathered a tprrific Atlantic blow in which tho Anglo-Australian disappeared without trace. Her officers believe that the Anglo-Australian was overwhelmed suddenly by mountainous seas beforo an S.O.S. could be sent. "About the only thing wo seemed to have missed is one of Franco's bombs in the Mediterranean, but the tanker British Corporal, in whose wake we were steaming, was bombed, and had to race for port." said one of the crew. Children of Sussex Rhodes School, London, who have adopted the Wellington Court under the Ship Adoption Scheme, should have an interesting lesson when the ship sends its ropoix home by letter.