RATANA DISASTER
AN EXTENDED INQUIRY MAY OCCUPY SEVERAL DAYS MORE By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLINGTON, This Day. About 17 witnesses have been heard by the Board of Inquiry set up to investigate the cause of the disaster to the excursion train near Ratana on March 26. The inquiry opened in Wanganui on April 3 and after the evidence of general departmental experts had been taken, it was adjourned to Wellington, where it was resumed on Tuesday. A witness yesterday said he had come forward after reading evidence of excessive speed and a third man being in the cab of the locomotive. He told the board that he estimated the speed of the train as being between 25 and 30 miles an hour a few seconds before the accident. Long technical evidence was given by the designing engineer of the Railways Department, who explained the maximum speeds allowable on all sections of the track traversed by the excursion trains. The inquiry will probably occupy several days more. The chairman of the board, Sir Francis Frazer, intimated that the Minister of Railways had extended the date by which the board was required to submit its report from April 30 to May 31 because the driver of the train had not yet sufficiently recovered to make a statement.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1938, Page 7
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214RATANA DISASTER Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1938, Page 7
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