CORRESPONDENCE.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 66, 3 February 1883, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

PREVENTABLE ACCIDENIS. to the j:oito« ok tbb feuding stab Sin, — Kef erring to the accident which happened tbeoiberdayatCanPKlen-si-reet, it was not (as reported in the Advocate) to Mr Gichard's cart, bat lo the tr;>p of .Vi r Rutherford which was beiog «1 v veu by his own son. This error, however, is notliiig fo my point. I simply rile to show that the accident was •oDg those wb?ch with a little forei''<ought and iriflicg expense might be pioveai^d. JN'o doubt the thick growth .if flax near the crossing has much io do r. fch preventing the approaching train I.v : ng seen by p?r.«ons passing over the crossing ; bat another matter 01 more : iportunre is the whistling of the engine f s the tra'us approach the crossing. On U»e occasion lefei red to aboTe I under* stai.'fl thrt the whistle was not sounded till, the en»,';ie was well on the crossing, a' <[ could therefore be of no use whateyer. .'ow, it isvfrefl-known that it is the im« yiera'-ive duty of the engine drivers to soiind the wbi^lle at the approach of, ?.,<; within a ceiiaia distance from, ail crossings. Notwithstanding this it is a common thing for trains to pass OTer crossings without the whistle beiog souoded at all. No longer ago than one clay this week for instance, the 7.so p.m. train from Wanganui ran from Makino to Feilding, aixl that to my personal \ o(7lcdge, without the whistle being .uunded at cither of the. intervening crossings. T may add that this is by no means a .-.oliuny case that has come under my notice of trains crossing without the s gnal being given. It is plain that, such negligence as this is highly censurable, and that some notice of it should be taken by the proper authorities so as to bring the liability of accidents such as the above within, the narrowest possible limit. — I nva. &c, Epimetheus. [We have no doubt the District Manager has already received f u ll report son < h's matter.— Ed. P.S.]