SPECIAL TELEGRAMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1314, 23 June 1880, Page 2

SPECIAL TELEGRAMS.

J e—--5 [from our own correspondent.! I -=^=- PALMERSTON. June 23. An accident happened to the express train this morning near Pnketeraki. The engine and two carriages arrived here about an hour and a quarter late, but no papers or mails are yet to hand. The only particulars I can at present learn regarding the mishap is that some of the carriages by some means got off the line with, what damage, if any, I cannot at present find out. The entries for the coursing All-aged Stakes numbered 16, including ten district dogs, four from Tokomairiro, one from Dunedin, and only.one from Oamaru. The latter district, it was fully expected, would have been better represented, some of your principal coursers being old Palmerstonians, and it is thought they should have patronised the new club. A number of policemen from Dunedin, together with the Oamaru and district men, have just proceeded to Shag Point per express train. Later. The remainder of the train just passed through. \am informed by a gentleman, a passenger, that one of the American cars was the first to go off the line, dragging ■ the other carriages and the guard's van with it, - My informant went back along the line to discover the cause of the accident, and he hjas no doubt it was caused by the defective state of the rails, one rail in particular being completely done. A gentleman who went down in the express last night told my informant that the train very nearly went off at exactly the same place on that occasion, the sensation appearing as if the train had gone over a log of timber.