I.—6a.

22. Do you know whether instructions in regard to the Westinghouse brake have been issued to engine-drivers on other sections of the line ?—I hear they have been in Dunedin. They had a library there, and, it is said, it contained books explaining the Westinghouse brake. 23. Do you know of any instructions with regard to the Westinghouse brakes since the accident ?—No ; the new solid blocks put on are longer than the old blocks. 24. Would that give a better hold ?—Yes, they are not so liable to shrink on to the wheel. 25. Do you say you ought to have been stopped at Chertsey ?—Yes, I ought to have been stopped at Chertsey by the stationmaster. If I had been stopped at Chertsey, and informed that the main line would have been blocked at Bakaia, it would have made all the difference, and there would have been no accident; and had it been a smart man sent out with the lamp he would have let me down the siding. There are rules that if a driver should stop short at a platform he shall not move either back or forward until he gets " Bight " from the guard. In this case there was nothing done for the safety of that train. That train was left to the mercy of the train on the line; and, another thing, I had an express running behind me. I had to make as good time as possible, so that I would not delay No. 21. 26. Have you ever known of drivers being fined for not making up time ?—I was fined once myself for not making up time, but I had an engine which I could not make up time with. I got fined a day's pay. Wl, What is the practice of making up time ?—lt is done every day. 28. Was it a practice known to the drivers ?—lt must be known. 29. It is forbidden by the rules ? —Yes ; but if we acted to the rules and regulations we would have been off long ago. I have always done my best to forward the work. I think my previous record will bear being looked into. The class of engines I have had you would not find much fault with. It is a thing I have always made a great study of. 30. Were you in the first-class grade ?—Yes. 31. Do you know of any similar defects having been discovered in the Westinghouse brake ?— I heard of one failing to act the same as mine. 32. When the train over-ran its stopping-place ? —Yes. 33. Have you any particulars of another instance? —I heard of an engine sliding from the top of Chain Hill to the bottom, where the brake went on and did not release. It would never have happened with one of these solid blocks. 34. Was any reference made before either the Supreme Court or the Boyal Commission about the defects that the Westinghouse brake had been shown to have at Sawyer's Bay, Chain Hill, Styx, and Sefton ?—-The thing was not gone into because my lawyer said he had got sufficient evidence without that. 35. You say in America instructions are given to each engine-driver ?—Each man has a book of instructions given to him both in England and America —all instructions about the brake. I have since seen a copy of the books that the men have had supplied to them. 36. In your petition to the House you said that you had been made to spend £160 to show you were not to blame and you were dismissed through the inquiry at which you had not the opportunity of refuting anything ?—Yes. 37. Since the petition came to hand it has been elicited that a subscription-list of £261 19s. Id. has been raised on your behalf ?—lf it had not been for my mates helping me I should have had to go to the poorhouse. I have not had the show of a job, barring the one down South, and that work I could not take on till I was done with the Government. 38. The reason you say for not taking the work at Orepuki was because you had not been dismissed from the Government service?—l was only on suspension. I asked the manager to wait for me three months, but the man that they had suited very well, and they did not want to put him off. 39. You regarded that subscription as a private one?—l could not see what it had to do with this at all. I have a family to bring up, and must have means to do it with. lam out of a job ; being so long on the railways, it takes a long while to get into anything. 40. Are there any men above you in your grade on the Hurunui-Bluff line?—l do not think so. 41. Are there many older drivers? —Yes, a good few. 42. Mr. E. G. Allen.] Why did you not apply for your wages from the time you were suspended till you were dismissed?— Well, I asked Mr. Bonayne, and I think I wrote to him as to whether any allowance was to be made to me ; and in the Supreme Court case I wrote to Mr. Bonayne to know as to what position, or how I was going to be placed, and the answer I think I got was to the effect that they could not see their way clear to remove my suspension until after the inquiry. 43. After you were dismissed you did not apply ? —No, not straight. 44. You said you had been fined several times : for what were you fined ?—I was fined for running a stock-train late from Timaru to Christchurch. I was fined a day's pay. I had an engine not fit for the stock-trade class, and terribly out of order. The engine was wasting more* steam than actually using, but it is always a rule pretty well amongst all drivers, as long as they (the engines) will do the turn, they do not trouble about them. I did not report the engine, because I did not think there was going to be any trouble over it, or I should have reported about the engine. When I was in Timaru, driver Cochrane had to run a special with my engine and was stuck up twice going to Fairlie Creek, and coming back he told me he did not know how I was going to get on with a big load, as she was not up to much. I said, " I think we will get home all right." 45. You said that you could have given further evidence at the Boyal Commission if you had had counsel. What was the nature of the evidence—similar to the evidence that you have been giving here ?—Yes, similar. A lot of information I cannot explain.

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