THE LATE ACCIDENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 572, 18 September 1880, Page 2

THE LATE ACCIDENT.

[To the SJditor of the Wairabapa Daily. . Sib,—As one who was present at the inquiry into, the late deplorable accident on the Rimutaka railway line I think it only right, in justice to the Coroner and Mr Quin, to give a resume of the actual facts in connection with the action.of the Coroner and the witness in question. Great capital, has .been made by the Evening Post as to the character of the evidence given and.taken, but I think in justice, net only to the officials against whom the imaginary charge was made, but to, the; witnesses Quin,and Montgomery, and ;the public the :Coroner'could npt haye, adopted any other course than have the matter fpjly and thoroughly investigated, and his action' against'all'opposition of certain persons,has had the effect of exonerating all upon 'whom the reflection may have rested, had he not been.so firm.': :■::.,; Anyone knowing Mr Quin, would, give him oredii for-bemg' ohe of the most honest and conscientious of men, and that he should under the circumstances

have' contradicted himself' isv ;not BUrr prising, and I feel confident that without having any grudge, against , anyone in , charge of the unfortunate train,: hiß wish was as stated by him, to have the matter cleared up, and in this the coroner con-.! curs, not upon " hearsay" evidence, as : stated, but with ; the hope of clearing away any doubt in the .minds of the public, for it must be borne in mind, the enquiry: was on behalf.of: the public.:::The_ • •JMway--Department- would, have been.. bound to investigate the matter, though the, fear; of ..any. evidencejaking a form again st' the thbritieß,7waa pattint in the fact of Messrs Lawson, Bunny, watchirig'the proceedings for 'the Governtneriti With these for preliminaries, I will gire the substance of what passed with'respedt' to'the'Coroner and : Mr Quin's statement, and leave the pub-' lie to draw their own inferences, as. to. ; whether it was proper or improper that' the matter should have beencleared up in the way it was. Mr Quin had made a statement that he had been told by Montgomery, that the engine driver had a bottle of brandy on the engine. He (Quin) had hot seen it himself, but had been told by Montgomery, and thought that the matter ought to be cleared up, Mr Izard (who was present on behalf of the Government), and Mr Bunny wanted this evidence to be ignored, but the Coroner said it'was only justice to the men against.whom the statement was made, to the Railway Department, and to the public, to have Montgomery present; and aB long as lie was Coroner he would sift everything. Messrs Bunny and Izard contended that Quin's evidence was only hearsay and should not be taken down, but the Coroner held that Quin only drew attention to the statement made to him by Montgomery, and thought Quin was right in asking that the matter should be carefully inquired into. Mr Bunny wanted the inquest adjourned for two days, to investigate the statements made in the Waikakapa Daily.. The Coroner said Mr Bunny was now adopting hia (the Coroner's) recommendation of investigating everything, however disagreeable, and suggested that the incline men be brought in at once to see if they denied the charge of finding fault with the incline management, and thus guard against any evidence being trumped up, and asked Mr-Bunny (the foreman) to see if the majority were in favor of such a course or no. This the foreman declined to do. Mr Toogood then asked that the jury might retire to consider Mr Bunny's proposal for an adjournment, whioh was granted, the result being that they decided against Mr Bunny, The Coroner thought they were right, for had the enquiry been postponed the men would possibly have decided upon some general evidenoe. Thus far I think it. will be seen that Quin did not make the statement from personal observation, but with a wish that the jury should consider and clear up all points, Whether, in the excitement, he imagined Montgomery told him the brandy tale, or whether Montgomery's contradiction was correct or not, were the points upon which I consider the jury had to decide, and as the evidence proved the idea was wrong the men are exonerated , from all blamfy and instead of the severe cenßure of .the jury upon Mr Quin, —arid the reflection cast upon him by the construction put upon his words by the Post,—l think those concerned should rather be grateful to him and the Coroner for setting the matter clearly at rest. Had it not been for them it is hard to say where it would have ended, for doubtless something was said, and would, without doubt, have been doubly magnified, as the matter was already before the public—even before the inquest, I am, &c.. Justice.