THE KHYBER PASS TRAM ACCIDENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1917, Page 7

THE KHYBER PASS TRAM ACCIDENT.

MOTORMAN TAKES BLAME. The cause or the rensatlona! trarncar runaway that occurred on the Khyber Pass road incline, Auckland, after midnight on. February 21—when a car from the city got out of control,, rushed at great speed towards Newijiarket, and finally left the rails and crashed into an alleyway between the branch of the Auckland Savings Bank and the Royal George Hotel —has been definitely ascertained. An enquiry has been held by the management of the Auckland tric Tramways Company into the circumstances of the accident. The district engineer of the Railways Department and the secretary of the Tramways Employees' Union were present during the investigation. The principal witness was the motorman in charge of the runaway car, who frankly admitted thai after leaving Parkroad on the journey in which the accident happened he dozed, and that he remembered nothing that occurred between then and his being thrown from his seat when the car jumped the points at the Newmarket junction. The motorman's explanation of his lapse was that on that day—the day when liie recent cyclonic storm was at its height—he had been astir from 4 a.m., the gale having done damage to his house that necessitated the shifting of furniture. He cook up liis duty for the Tramways Company between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., and as the night wore on he felt very tired. The management of the Tramwavs Company is satislied that the enquiry has disclosed the true explanation of the accident. The motorman in question lias been one of the most trusted of its employees, lie suffered considerable injuries about the face in the accident, the consequences of the Hying of glass, and has not yet recovered from the effects.