THE LATE BUGGY COLLAPSE VERSUS CAPSIZE.

Kumara Times, Issue 2545, 18 August 1884, Page 2

THE LATE BUGGY COLLAPSE VERSUS CAPSIZE.

[to the editor.] Sir—As one who was early afc the scene of the late buggy accident and who has made a minute investigation of all the circumstances connected with it, kindly let me refer to one or two points in "Zigzag's" letter of Saturday. Ist. The incontrovertible fact that the under part of the buggy, the four wheels included, went away entire with the harness for three miles, leaving the upper part behind, prove beyond a doubt that the two parts came quite away from each other, and beyond all cavil ; then, that the two parts, the upper and the lower, were insecurely fixed together. 2nd, How will "Zigzag" account for the fact, that the upper part of the buggy, immediately after the accident, and before the occupants escaped from beneath it, was found in the centre of the road in the position which it occupied when in itsproper place upon the lower part, of the buggy, except in the theoiy that it did " tip " in some such manner us a [' tip j

dray." It is nob said that it tipped backwards, or forwards, or sideways, but simply that it did. tip, aud it would be difficult to give any other satisfactory explanation of the collapse than that given in your own journal. 3rd, I was at the scene of the disaster shortly after it took place, and am in a position to prove that there was not the slightest evidence from "impressions on the mullock bank" that the wheels came into contact with any object, or that the under part of the buggy " capsized "at all. If they had, it would have been quite impossible for them to have righted themselves again, as there is too great a slope of the bank at the particular spot where the break down took place. 4th. Let it be known that the buggy had reached almost to the foot of the Zigzag, where there is scarcely anv incline and the very levelest and smoothest part of the road before it collapsed. How is this consistent with "very fast driving," or with the fact that the four wheels never even left the road until they reached Westbrook. The true explanation, and the only one applicable is that the upper part was insecurely fixed to the lower, and parted by its own motion as it went along with its living freight. sth. I have examined the structure and fastenings of the buggy since the accident, and my opinion is that it was wholly unfit for the purpose for which it was hired out, and that licensed proprietors who keep such vehicles for hire should be made amenable to public justice for endangering the lives of those who employ their use. X Y Z August 16, 1884.