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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1191, 28 December 1894, Page 30

We have been requested to contradict the impression conveyed in a statement made by a correspondent of our evening contemporary, to the effect that Thursday night's Manawatu train was in danger of serious accident near Johnsonville. It is explained that when a train is descending a steep grade it is the guard's duty to hold with the car brakes all the cars and the engine; but if that is not found sufficient the driver whistles for more brakes. Apart from all this, the driver has the powerful steam brake that may be applied at once to the sixteen wheels of his engine and tender, and this he is instructed to keep in reserve to meet any emergency. In the case in question, after the train left Johnsonville, when the driver whistled for brakes, too many were applied, and as a result the engine steamed slowly down the grade. We are informed that the speed before the brakes were used was not such as to cause any alarm. An artistically-compiled work is to hand, entitled " A Tourist's Visit to Ayrshire and the T\ est Highlands," but chiefly devoted to a comprehensive description, profusely illustrated, of the manufacture of the Scotch whisky supplied by Greenlees Bros., London and Glasgow. The.illustrations are excellent. The Fire Brigade Ball takes place at the Drillshed on New Year's Night.