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Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 596, 30 March 1878, Page 2

Last evening's railway accident is just what might have been expected to happen. The necessity fur fencing in certain portions of onr railway lines, in order to keep animals ofl' the rails, has been previously referred to by ns. and must be apparent to everyone. We do not mean that the large sum of money mentioned by Mr. Laenach.should be expended in this work, for that amount would have enclosed all the railway lines in the Colony. It is only here and there that necessity exists for protecting the track from the encroachments of live stock, and the cost of carrying out the necessary fencing would be inconsiderable compared with the advantages in security to life and limb which would be ensured thereby. The Colony is surely not too poor to defray the expense of a work which would have 'for its object the protection of the lives of the people. It was only by a most fortuitous circumstance that the vehicles in the train that came to grief last night were arranged in a manner that saved the passengers from injury, or perhaps sudden death ; for had the passenger carriages been immediately attached to the engine, and the do wn train been going a decline instead of up an incline, the contiguity of the passengers to the engine and the increased impetus would probably have ended in a disaster that would never have been obliterated from the memories of the people. In the present state of matters, who knows but that such an unfavorable concatenation of cirj cumstances may occur at any moment 1 | During the winter months, the late trains are overtaken by darkness, and it is not unlikely that an animal getting on the line may sometime or another throw a train laden with a living freight off the track with eminently disastrous consequences. It should not be argued that because we have enjoyed an immunity from accident in the past we are likely to do so in the future. We do not wish to be alarmists, but feel it to be our duty to caution those interested that there is danger, especially in running night trains in the present unprotected state of the lines. As it happens the casualties last night are comparatively unimportant, although the poor fellow whose leg was broken and other parts of his body severely cut, will scarcely be inclined to think so. The damage done to the engine, rails, &c., the delay occasioned to the trains (a matter that should be considered by the Government), not to say anything of what it will cost to help poor M'lntyke through the indisposition occasioned by the accident, would have at least gone a long way towards preventing the accident by fencing in that portion of the line where it occurred.