LATE LOCALS.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 June 1919, Page 3

LATE LOCALS.

Word has been received that Private E. Honey, is returning by the s.s. Maunganui, due at Port Chalmers, on ' Saturday, 21st. June. Private Honey !is a brother of Mrs Hansford of Hoj kitika, and a linotype operator by j trade, having worked in the West j Coast Times office, for a considerable ' period, thence going to New Plymouth, ! where he shortly afterwards enlisted, j “ Long periods between disastrous accidents have helped along a feeling of indifference; but ;i(t takes only one fatal wreck such as the • eeent Main Trunk disaster to bring the travelling public to the realisation that the en-gine-driver’s brain is the only one thing that stands between them and almost certain death,” writes J. Hickey (Kaponga) to the “ Ilawera Star.” “I have been on the engine of a suburban train that was switched in on top of a stationary mail trail, the suburban train being pnTlod up within a few yards of the mail train. T have been on the engine of the Auckland night express when we ran from Mangaweka to Wellington without the assistance of the Westinghouse brake, it having failed through no fault of the enginedriver. 1 brought a heavy mixed goods and passenger train to a stop within a few yards of a set of points near Raurimu that had been jammed open by a piece of chain that had been dragging at the side of a truck of the previous*down train. These arc just a few of the incidents that almost every engine-driver on our railways can relate, and about which the public know nothing.”

A motor-car in an auction room is perhaps hardly comparable to a hull in a china shop, hut there were points ot resemblance, in an incident which occurred in one of the auction rooms in Auckland on Monday, (States the “Star”). A little two-seater car was being driven from the street into the room. Apparently the brakes refused to act, or else the driver pressed the wrong lever, and the car, instead of coming to a stop, continued straight ahead. There were a number of articles hi its way. such as washstands, chairs, small tables, fenders and other things. These it commenced to take in its stride, as it were, and a casual visitor to the room was compelled to take a flying leap over several tables to avoid being mixed in the debris. 'llie weight of accumulated articles in front of the car, and the fact that the driver threw it out of gear finally brought it to a standstill in the midst of a pile of well-assorted articles, while a laundry article was dangling gracefully from the undercarriage.