THE LATE COACH ACCIDENT.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 205, 28 March 1877, Page 2

THE LATE COACH ACCIDENT.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE PATEA MAIL.) Siu, —I beg, through the medium of your journal, to bring to the notice of the public and the authorities, the existence of a very serious evil, which, from its frequent occurrence, it appears strange not to have been long since noticed and remedied. It is that of workmen employed on, or near the public roads or thoroughfares, not desisting from work during the few seconds'' necessary for the passing of equestrians or vehicles, to the imminent danger of the riders or passengers Fortunately, the illustration which 1 lay before the public with reference to the down mail of Saturday last, terminated without any serious results to life or limb, simply from the circumstances attending the accident, which I shall endeavour to make appear clearly, after the perusal of the following letter from my son, who was a passenger on the outside, or driver’s seat. Referring to the accident, he says—- “ I will give you the lull particulars. We were trotting along at a good pace, with fresh horses, and about a mile this side (that is Wanganui side) of Handley’s, some men were cutting down bush. Just as the horses were abreast of place, some of the party threw a branch into the road, almost into the horses faces, causing them to shy to the right. The road just there has a good round top on it, so that one side of the coach was high and the other low. We balanced along about nine yards, when over she went. The horses bolted down the road, taking along with them the front wheels. I should have told yon there were a number of ladies inside the coach, and from the screeching, they appeared terribly frightened. The top of the coach was broken to pieces, which saved some o f them from getting crushed to death. After we got the ladies and children out from under the wreck, we found that one lady had her wrist sprained, another her side crushed (not dangerously), and a German lady got a cut in her head. I got tossed out : ou to the road, nearly into the ditch, and came down on my shoulder, making it a little stiff. It made the people stare to see us coming into town without the top of the coach.”—This winds up the particulars of the accident. Now, I would wish to call the attention of the public as to what their ideas might be with regard to the result, had not the two front wheels been forcibly torn from the body of the coach. It will not, I think, be difficult to imagine the consequences in such a catastrophe. On enquiry from Mr Henry (the driver) to-day, as to the welfare of my son re the accident, he replied—“ We (meaning my son and himself) were pitched into a lot of fern near the side of the road, but no one was hurt. 5 ' This wonld appear to contradict the above. However, supposing Mr Henry’s version to be correct, I

Would ask—is it b c.ais, no limns wi.ic broken, or lives lost, lha'L no enquiry (at lea;t as far as 1 know) is to be made, and the evil to be remedied. 1 hope, however, such will not be the ease, and that on this exposure of what J. believe to be the facts, some one iu authority may see fit to demand a full explanation, and should the result coincide with the above letter, it will appear evident that in this case a most aggravated offence lias been perpetrated by some of the working party referred to, whether accidentally, wantonly, or maliciously, endangering the lives or limbs of some eight or ten persons, which, L need not add, requires that the offenders he brought to justice: and not, as would appear from the apparent desire to have the affair cloaked over, and not t iken notice of. Trusting I have not prolonged this letter more than is necessary in a matter so important, and that it may have the desired effect by being published—l am, Ac., W. Cuxxuu.v. Carlyle, March 20, IS?7.