OTIRA TRAIN SMASH.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1742, 6 May 1913, Page 6

OTIRA TRAIN SMASH.

PASSENGER'S STORY. "NEAR THING" AND LUCKY ESCAPE. (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) Hokitika, May 3. The Rev. Alfred North, general organiser for the New Z«uaiuL .baptist Union, was a passenger by tho Otira express on Saturday mgiit, when tho carriages wcro ueraii«l. in conversation with a' reporter this afternoon Jlr. North stated that ho was in one of tho compartments ot tho carringo which capsized. Desonblng the accident, Mr. Nortn said tliat, as they wcro running down to Aritika at N a fairly good pace, they i'olt a very heavy P. um Pj carriage swayed wildly and then foil over. It dropped verticajly lot about two feet, and then landed" on a soit grassy patch, which acted as a cushion. Ail the passengers were thrown over on to the side, and there was a big smashing of glass. As soon as lie picked himself up and found that ho was uninjured he lent assistance to three or four ladies who were affected by tho shock, and two of whom were rather severely lacerated about tho head. Tho escapo of everyone was, in Mr. North's opinion, duo in some respect to tho fact tlia'c the couplings broke. Had they held fast tliero wou!& have been a shocking accident, as the engine would probably have been jerked oil' the line and the carriages heaped up and smashed. Then tho engine would probably have set fire to the wreckage. • The accident happened at a spot where there was almost an ideal place for the carriago to topple over., Tho bank was very soft, but had the affair taken place at othor places on the line the carriages would have crashed over tho bank. Mr. North added that, strange to say. the lights wero nt)t extinguished, and, although one of the railwayman smashed open the door, the passengers decided to remain in the wrecked carriago until help arrived. -Mr. North desired to emphasise tho danger which the passengers and railway employees ran oil the Otira line. Ho holds that no Department has a right to run such risks. For a good part of the journey the track is not fenccd, and tho wandering cattle are a constant source of danger. Not only wcro tho tracks ulicenced, but, on tho run down between Otira and Grcymouth, the decline in some places is steep and dangerous, and, when undertaken in the darkness (as on Saturday last) grave risks were run. This danger was very greatly magnified by tho absence of efficient brake power, no Westinghouso brakes being used oil tho line. At tho spot where (he accident happened the decline was alwut twenty feet in a mile, but, further up the line, tliero was about a 300 feet drop in live miles, and there wore numerous sharp curves. Mr. North considers that' immediate action should be taken, and tho travelling public and the railway men protected. Ho paid a warm tribute to tho doctors and the railwaymcn, who did everything possible tinder the circumstances.