The Gorge Railway Accident.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6062, 8 May 1891, Page 2

The Gorge Railway Accident.

The Woodville Examiner gives the following particulars of the recent railway J acoidenfc in the Gorge:— lt; was found that

the front wheels of the engine of the Napier express had left the rails just before coming on to the viaduct op- . posite Barney's point. The engine crossed 1 ; this viaduct with the front wheels six.' inches off the rails, and bumping into each sleeper as they passed over. Fortunately the cowcatcher was sufficiently strong to hold up the fore part of the ■ engine, and as it glided along the top of the inside rail it prevented the engine ;', sinking. In this way the engine was : carried over the viaduct and along the line a distance of eight chains before it could be pulled up, although th« train was going . only at the rate of about 10 miles Sin ~ hour. A passenger who had noticed •> that the engine was going badly and was standing on the step of a first -class .' carriage describes the incident as a moat miraculous escape from n frightful oatas- ,' fcrophe, as had it not been for the protec* tion afforded by the cowcatcher in --I&jms. ing up the engine it must have gone through the viaduct and oarried tho tram y with it into the ravine 80 or 90 feet; :, below, resulting in the most terrible 7 railway accident yet experienced in New ' Zealand. The passenger we refer to informed us that the situation was a most alarming one to those who witnessed the incident, as the engine went on the wheels throwing up gravel in clouds, from the ballasted way. After some delay the engine was jacked on the rails again and . several passengers, fearing a repetition stood on the platforms ready to jump oft start was made, and sure enough before the train had gone another fifty yards off went the front wheels ; so judging it unsafe to make any furthor attempt on such a dangerous way, the officers in charge decided to make no further attempt to pro* ceed . There wore about 40 passengers on board, including a number of women and children. The accident and delay is only an instance of what must frequently occur in the Gorge during the winter months, and shows the necessity of an engine being kept in Woodrille for the purpose of facilitating traffio, instead of having to sand to Danevirke or Palmerston for ;. special engines, wait till they can be got ready, and come all the distance from these places before they can render any service.

On Saturday the Rev. T. J. Wills and family left Opotiki for Rotorua. He takes \ temporary charge of the Anglican church * , there. , •

The following census returns have been completed :-Ohristchurch, 14,885 in 1891, 15,265 in 1886 ; Sydenham, 1891 9,680, 1886 9,465; St. Albans, 1891 6,231, v 1886 4,925; Linwood, 1891 4,577, 1886 ; 4,051 ; Lyttelton, 1891 4,091, 1886; 3,996; Aahburton, 1891 1,902, 1886 1,769 ; Akftv roa, 1891 572, 1886 662. . ; : Mr Bell reports to the Premier thaV portions of the Parliamentary building* ! are in a delapidated state, and heed nob only repairs bub renovation or rebuilding. The Parliamentary Library is said to be : worth L 30,000, but ibis deposited in a mere wooden shell. It has had more than ; one escape from destruction from fire. Mr ./ Bell proposes a brick structure, to cosl LIO,OOO. To complete the whole of the .-,; rebuildings, furnishing, etc., would require L 25.000. It is probable that a sum will be asked from Parliament to eres tjj§ : -; : : building fov the library. . . :; 7■ "

General Booth proposes to expend his legaoy of L? 0,000 on a grand " Salvation Temple." The Paris census returns show an increase of 60,000 in the population of

Paris. Baron Hirsch's charities to the poor of his race in Austria and other parts of Europe already amount to L 2,500,000. Baron Hirsch is fifty-five years old, has a wife and no children, and is reported to have a fortune of L 20,000,000. The cigaretto industry in the United States is now run by ft large trust which embraces all thegreatmanufacturing firms. Competition, including the gift enterprise schemes, is now stopped. The capital of the federated company is twenty-five million dollars.

The Minister for Land says : -"I have effected retrenchment to tho extent of Lll,ooo in. all. About half of this amount will go the first year in compensation, and the other half savod will be expended in field work, ao as to bring up the arrears of surrey work, which are very great. » Laat week a woman gave birth to a child itt a Sydney omnibus, and before the 'bus arrived at the terminus the woman got out and disappeared, leaving the child bohind her. When the driver found it, the little one was alive, but it died the next day at the Benevolent Asylum. The first College for Women in .connection with the Melbourne University has just been opened. It is in connection with Trinity College. Lady Clarke has supplied the money for the buildingsome LSOOO or L6OOO. When the whole quadrangle is finished there will be room for fifiy students with tutors and lecturers. Writing with regard to Australian federation an American correspondent says : Secretary Blame, according to a press despatch from Washington, is particularly anxious fchat the federation may become an accomplished fact, and it is intimated that when the proper moment arri/es he will open-negotiations looking to unrestricted reciprocity. Mr Blame has always hud a favorable opinion of the value of the colonial trade, and during the recent session of Congress he was one of the strongest supporters of the Subsidy Bill.

The British and* Foreign Bible Society issue 13,000 copies of the scripture every working day of the year. It has sent out in round numbers 124 millions, of scriptures in close upon 300 languages. But there are 3424 languages spoken on this earth, not counting ne\y nations and new tongues. The Sooiety is printing in many fresh languages every month, the latest production being the New Testament in Motu of New Guinea.

As everyone, knows, one of the principal exports of Fiji is the banana. The area under this crop is steadily increasing. In 1889 the exporb of bananas to New South Wales was valued afc L 32,000, and in 1890 ifc had risen t0L42,000.. To New Zealand and Victoria the export.in 1889 wasLsooo each, and in 1890 it had increased to LBOOO each. As showing the value of Fiji to the other ..co^oni^s in 1890, she imported from New. Zealand L 42,000 worfch of goods ; from New South Wales, £129,600,; and fronv Victoria, L 16,000. A "Working Man," writing to the Wanganui Chronicle., tells ; the following story :-*-"! was a passenger in the train when the Wanganui" people were returning from the Taranftki 'Jubilee. The carriages were full, all the seats were crammed, the passage way was full, with nien standing ; the platforms were full, and tired women held their children in arms to keep them from being trampled upon. There was one carriage that was an exception— that was a reserved carriage containing the Hon. John Ballance, the 'working man's friend,' and two others. ! I could not help asking myself, Isi this man, who I see riding in state, ■with all the airs of an aristocrat riding in comfortable ease (and it seemed to be «is he looked into the opposite carriage, and saw it crowded to suffocation, that it was all the more comfortable by contrast) whose manner seemed to say that ' nothing shall come betweon the wind and his nobility '-Is he really the working man's friend ? If his position was assured would he not; cease to be the working man's friend. I, for one, feel that the working man will rue the day he put such men in power.

The following humorous article is from the Post:— The proceedings of the meeting of householders for the election of a committee for the Newton State ochool terminated in something strongly suggestive of the burlesque. The new Act requires that the ballot papers shall be destroyed immediately -after the election had been declared, and, in response to a question, Mr J. W; Davis, who presided at the JNetfton meeting, ruled that the Act intended the papers to be destroyed before the meeting dispersed ; whereupon Mr Hulke, the headmaster, was asked if he had anything on hand in which a fire could be lit for the burning of the said papers •• in the sight of the people." Mr Hulke is nothing if not ready of v resource, and at once replied that he had a bucket ! A sigh of relief went up from the meeting that the sacrifice could thus be carried out under fitting conditions, and the bucket Having been brought upon the scene, the voting papers were solemnly converted nto ashes by the judicious application in ithe first instance of the homely but useful ■waxveßta. Around the sacred fire gathered the householders, and those who hud just been elected of them to high place, and as the lurid flames, &c, lit up their expressive features, it was evident the peculiar ritual of the new School Elections Act was working strongly within them. Presently the vote-bothickened smoke arising fr«vn the extemporised altav to the great fetish Red Tape filled the educational temple, and the devotees one by one departed into the fresh air wi eer but asphyxiated men.

The Wellington papers are rough on the Rugby Union. The Post says: -The Bugby Football Union Managoment Committee, after a hollow pretence at enquiry, has decidfd that the charge of using bad "language on the football ground is unfounded, and not warranted by the facts. That may be the opinion which the Committee finds it convenient to publicly express, but it will neither satisfy nor convince the public, and we venture to assert that there is nob a. member of the Committee who is not personally aware that bad' language was used on the occasion, or who would have the slightest difficulty in naming the offenders. Their names, in fact, are on every footballer's tongue, and perfectly well known to most of the frequenters of the football ground. The action of the Committee in this matter recalls the old chestntifc about a sapient Justice before whom ft man was accused of stealing a pig. Three witnesses swore to seeing him commit the act. Ten were found to swear they did not see him steal the porker, and the Justice dismissed the case, as the weight of evidence was in favor of the accused, It is to be regretted, for the sake of the game, that the Committee has dealt with the matter in so perfunctory and unsatisfactory a manner. The public frequenting football matches must, however, be protected from unseemly exhibitions, A"& public decency be preserved. The services of the police must now be depended on to ensure this. Describing .the closing hours of Congress on the sth March, Dalziei'a representative reports that the Senate clock had been turned back, as is customary, 10 minutes, ao as to enable business belonging to the fifty-first Congress to be transacted in the penod of its legal life. It adjourned -• at noon by the marble clock. The House of Representatives also adjourned at U V o'oloek nominally, but the hour was really 12, m TKere trasa wild '* hurrah as .Che Speaker's: gavel fell on the expiring Congress, coming from the floor and the galImm», la© Republicans broke into the -$* faWV® »QPst "Marching through

Georgia." The Democrats attempted to sing "Dixie," which was a great favorite with the Confederate troops, and is recognised as the representative Southern song. The reporters in the gallery ovor the Speaker's desk gave a very fair imitation of a choir singing the Doxology. And then everybody except the busy executive officers left the building.

Speaking at a banquet in connection with the celebration of the lEight Hours' Movement in Melbourne, the President of the Pioneer Eight Hours' Association said he must condemn the action of the few mischief- making agitators who had been dragging the democracy of Australia through the mire for the last few months. He was not afraid to speak his mind bofore those men, but he knew that if he attempted to do co he would be howled down by what to-day was called an " intelligent democracy." Those men had been fattening on discord and bringing about strife and strikes, and thousands of men were groaning under the tyranny of those who had falsely led thorn. Working men ahould no longer follow-ths rule of those parasite's on the institution which the pioneers had raised— parasites who, many of them, lived by their wits, and not by honest industry.

Has arrived to-day for Alfred Ledger :— Six sacks Oysters, one case Smoked Schnapper, one case Smoked Mullet.— (Advt.)

Money is the root of all evil. Strange, what a hankering most people have for this same thing. Its collection is a rooted conviction with all classes, something like the demand for Hennessy's Boots. Ladies' Evening Shoes, from 3s 9d.— (Advti)

Strangers visiting Gisborne and desiring to know the best establishment in which to purchase Watches, Clocks or Jewellery will please note that S. McLernon offers special advantages. He imports direct and buys for cash from the leading manufacturers, consequently he claims to be in the best possible position to serve the public" well. One month's trial given with each Watch repaired by him. If not satisfactory, money returned. — Advt