RATANA INQUIRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 April 1938, Page 5

RATANA INQUIRY

FURTHER EVIDENCE HEARD IN WELLINGTON. (By Telegraph—Press Association). WELLINGTON, April 29. At the Ratana inquiry today, Sir Francis Frazer (chairman) mentioned that a letter had been received from a resident of Paraparaumu giving the names of two people who might be able to give valuable evidence concerning the actual time of derailment. The letter would be passed on to the secretary of the board so that he could communicate with the people mentioned in the letter. Continuing his evidence S. E. Gamby, road foreman, Auckland, said the engine was in first-class order. Percival had driven it quite a lot. He had 24 hours off duty before coming on on Friday, March 25. Witness said he had driven with speedometers. Personally he did not need them to know what speed the engine was doing. The present engine hadlights were very good indeed. When a driver was employed on the run regularly, he had no need to look at his working timetable. If he were put on a run a portion of which, although he might be acquainted with it. he did not cover regularly, he would look up his timetable to freshen his memory. The right was reserved by Mr Watson to cross-examine Gamby at a later stage if necessary. The difficulty was, he said, that Gamby spoke of conversations with Percival two or three days before the derailment. It might be that when Percival was able to give evidence his account of events might give a different version of some matters. Sir Francis Frazer agreed that the best course to adopt would be that when the board was sitting at Wanganui, any of the witnesses whose evidence should be contradicted could be made available again.