The Hushing-up System.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1794, 12 February 1886, Page 2

The Hushing-up System.

Thebe have bt'‘ a * our aoCl(^e,lta within the past few weeks on the \7:! lin K tou - W “' ,M . ai> ‘ Railway Line. Any of these accident have keen fatal to life, and indeed the latest one, when the (tripping gear of the Fell Engine broke down while drawing a paesen. ger train over the llimutaka incline, might have resulted in a terrible disaster. The exact truth about these accidents cannot at present be got at. Of course the heads of the railway department hold enquiries—but they do so with closed doors, 'Zealously withholding the slightest information from the Press and the public. We ray plainly that this state of affairs must not be permitied to continue. These enquiries must be held publicly, before an independent tribunal, and they must be open to the reporters of the public Press. If there are any officials to blame for such accidents as have occurred, a public enquiry would indicate who ought to be punished. On this point the Evening Post very justly remarks : 11 These enquiries are generally held by d nartmental officers who are probably] primarily responsible themselves, if the truth ( could be ascertained, lor what has occurred, I and their main object is to limit the enquiry I nI«H possible to the immediate eotori in

the matter enquired into, so as to fix blame ou some of them, and thus avoid an exhaustive investigation of the clauses which have probably indirectly led to the accident. The railways will never be satisfactorily managed until every accident is fully investigated and the fullest information given of all the causes which have conduced towards it. We hope that next session some member of Parliament will introduce a Bill to make this law. 'As it is now, the only chance of obtaining an open investigation of the causes of an accident is through a Coroner’s Court, and that can only be when life has been lost. Even then the tribunal is far from a satisfactory one, but if, unfortunately, as seems but too probable from the way things have been going lately on our line, such a Court should be called on to sit here before very long, we fancy the jury will be inclined to insist upon a more than ordinary searching enquiry, and will not hesitate to hold the proper parties, whoever they may be, responsible for whatever may occur.”