D.-4

6

Experimental Work. The Commission carried out experiments on draw-gear and springs. Review of Proceedings. The Commission opened its proceedings at Auckland on the sth of February, 1917. Counsel appeared on behalf of the Railway Department, and in his opening address directed the attention of the Commission to remarks made in Parliament, and reported in Hansard of the 7th of July, 26th of July, and 4th of August, 1916, more especially to Hansard of the 10th July, page 599, when— Mr. Wilkohd asked the Minister of Railways, without notice, whether his attenton had recently been called to the condition of the rolling-stock on the New Zealand railways at the present time, and whether there was a shortage of the necessary equipment for renewals in the Stores Department, and whether it was a fact that where broken springs had been found under carriages two springs were put into one, as there were not sufficient springs available. To a statement of Mr. Veitch (Hansard of 26th of July, 1916,. page 4!37)— I do know that at least one instruction has been issued by the Locomotive Depart- , ment to the effect that broken springs may be duplicated and put into all vehicles, instead of replacing those broken springs with new, good, serviceable springs. ... As a matter of fact, the packing of draw-bars with pieces of old broken springs, instead of holding them up in position with new springs, involves the whole draw-gear of a train in excessive strain, which is quite unnecessary and which will ultimately land the Minister in very great expense. ... A broken spring is no spring at all; practically, it is a piece of solid metal, and when the strain comes upon it there is no spring to relieve the strain, and the draw-gear has to take the whole strain at once, as a solid blow. It is the difference between laying a hammer on a piece of glass and dropping it on with a blow. That is a clear indication of the direction in which the policy of the Department is going. Any one who is not a railway man at all, but who will keep his eyes open when travelling round the Railways Department, will see that the painting of vehicles is considerably behindhand. Will (lie Minister deny the matter of expediting the painting in a somewhat slipshop fashion in older lo overhaul the backward condition of painting? Also a statement of Mr. Veitch (Hansard of 4th August, 1916, page 790)— Then we ace toltl two parts of a broken spring are as good as an entire spring. These are coil springs, which while unbroken will remain in position and do their work. The distance between the coils of the spring so broken is just about the same as the thickness of the spring, with the result that every jerk brings one half of the spring into the other, and it thus becomes a solid block, leaving several inches of slack connection between each of the vehicles of the train. Given a train with two draw-bars on each vehicle, and a hundred vehicles, you have two hundred draw-bars, in each of which the spring is broken into two parts —as will be the case if the present policy is continued long enough. There will be an extra slackness of 6 in. on each vehicle, and so it will give an extra length of train of 600 in., making an enormous difference. The Department says that the spring is used as a. shock-absorber. If it is necessary to absord the shock the spring should be kept there, and in a proper condition. If it is not necessary to absorb the shock then the attaching of the spring to the draw-gear in the first instance was a foolish waste of time and money. It shows also quite clearly that the new General Manager is not maintaining the rolling-stock in the high state of efficiency in which it was handed over to him. The draw-gear is most important, and the amount of strain that is put upon every part of the entire draw-gear of the train is enormously increased if these springs are not maintained in their proper condition, not only because there is a great deal of extra length in the train, but because the shock-absorber fails to absorb the shock; and so every part of the train is put to an enormous strain, which will eventually mean a considerable increase in the cost of maintenance and repairs to the rolling-stock. It is not worth while going further into this question, excepting to reply to the statement that the strain is only brought upon a vehicle in starting and stopping. It should be the policy of the Department to see. that the strain is minimized at all times, whether starting or stopping. Practical met] know that the strain is not limited to when the train is being started and stopped, because right through the journey from time to time in the variations of grade upon the track there are strains upon the drawgear. I have drawn attention to this particular topic in detail to show the Minister that the departmental report is certainly not the last word on this or any other question; and, as I have already stated, the very fact that I have been able to prove that in connection with the draw-gear springs alone the policy has been not to maintain the rolling-stock in as high a state of efficiency as previously.