DANGEROUS NEGLECT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8981, 15 November 1907, Page 4

DANGEROUS NEGLECT.

The Railway Department seems to be seriously at fault in the non-pro-tection of the Westinghouse brake taps attached to its rolling-stock. During the enquiry into the recent railway smash on the Rotorua line it' was shown that there was a possibility of the brake taps being tampered with. ■ Yesterday, at Marton, a boy was charged at the local court with having turned off a Westinghouse brake. If ordinary precautions were taken there could be no possibility of the taps being interfered with, and it was in view of this fact that the Magistrate declined to inflict any punishment upon the offender. The Department, through its solicitor, pressed for a heavy penalty, as the act might have resulted in an accident similar to the railway catastrophe on the Rotorua line. The Magistrate, however, sensibly declined to accede to the request, remarking that it was wonderfully stupid on the part of the Department not to hive these Westinghouse taps protected in some way or other. They could, he said, easily be boxed in and made secure by the use of special keys. We quite agree with his Worship that for the protection of human life it is absolutely necessary that such precautions should be taken. The Rotorua fatality should have been a warning to the Department .to .protect the taps. Perhaps prompt measures will be taken to do so now that public and pointsd attention has been drawn to the matter.

The Legislative Council, yesterday, resolved, on the motion of the Hon. T. Kelly, "That the time has arrived when the Water Power Act of 1902 should be put into practical operation, and the Council recommends that the Government should, during the recess, consider the propriety of establishing the manufacture of calcium liitrate by the process invented by Professor Birkeland, and thus provide the farmers of the dominion with cheap nitrogenous manure." The Attorney-General, who did not oppose tbe motion, promised to bring the matter before the Cabinet. There were, he said, difficulties in the way of carrying out such a scheme, but they were chiefly financial.