AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 September 1926, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Australia ifc N.Z. Cable Association.]

£5.000 DAMAGES.

(Received this day at 9.0 a.m.) SYDNEY, September 15. Tn the libel action, Eden Gorge v. Truth Newspapers the jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for £5,000. A stay of proceedings was granted.

N.S.AV. LABOUR. SYDNEY. September In. ft is understood a deadlock lias arisen in the ballot for the leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Both Lang and Loughlin having 2,1 votes, ft is stated the standing orders of the party do .not provide for the returning officer having a casting vote. The Caucus meeting adjourned till tn-

SYDNEY, September 15

At a meeting of the Clerks’ Union a motion was carried readmitting to the organisation, Messrs Lang. Loughlin, Conn, Grey. O’Halloran and Murphy, who were recently expelled. VICTORTAN PRECAPTIONS. MELBOURNE. Sent. 11. The Railway Commissioners are affixing automatic safety coupling devices to all now trucks, obviating the possibility of the vehicles breaking nway. and ensuring safer working for the employees. THE SYDNEY FATALITY. GRAPHIC ACCOUNTS. this dar at 12.A0 o.m I SYDNEY. September IT Travellers bv the wrecked train who reached Sydney gave graphic accounts of the disaster and subsequent scenes while extricating the dead and wounded. T">e driver of the train had a miraculous escape. He says coming round the bend lie was horrified to see tiio runaway trucks hearing down upon him. He jammed the breaks down hard, but was unable to pull up the train. A moment inter he heard the fireman shout : “For God’s sake jump.’ His foot caught in a strap and he heard a rending crash and he remembered no more. When lie regained consciousness 'he found himself lving in the tender partly buried under the coal hut only slightly injured. , Other travellers describe the scene as one of unforgettable gruesomeness, heads, arms and legs being jumbled up in all directions, bodies being piled up in heaps. ’Phe work of extricating them was arduous owing to the darkness and closely-wedged position of the victims, many of whom could not ho moved, after levering and hacking away the woodwork without hurting other unfortunates pinned alongside. The suffering of many of those wedged amongst the wreckage was intense and numbers succumbed in their agony before the rescuers were able to relieve them.