THE RIMUTAKA INCLINE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2638, 4 July 1887, Page 2

THE RIMUTAKA INCLINE.

(To tue'Editor).

Sin,—The following correspondence cannot foil to interest any of your readers wlio are in the habit of travelling on the Rimutaka railway. It will be noticed that the reply I roceived is' carefully worded so'as to give the smallest possible amount of information to the public, but we all know that the railway department delights in mystery. The assuranoe in the third paragraph from the end, that "it would have been improper to have attempted the course you suggest" is even, more enigmatical than the rest of the letter, as it will be noticed that I carefully avoided making any suggestions whatever, "While making these criticisms I am quite satisfied that though little

is said much will be done, as the Department cannot fail to be doubly careful after this warning. X feel that aB I do not now occupy any public position, I ant open to tho charge of taking too much on myself, but I trust the fact of my having had a very narrow esoape this time, together with my previous sad experience on this line will be considered a suffloient excuse. Yours, etc., 0. Phabazyn. Longwood, July Ist, 1887. :

Longwood, Feathereton, June 25 th, 1887. Tho Honorable, the Minister for Public Works, Wellington:, Sir.—l have the honor to direct your attention to the attaohod oxtraots from the New Zealand Times and Wairakapa Daily, with reference to the accident to a goods train between aud the Summit, on the 21st inat. Yon will observe that some of the statements made iu the former are most alaruung, and calculated to deter passengers from travelling on this line during the Winter. It appears to me, therefore, very desirable, in the public interest, that either an authoritative contradiction should be given to those statements, or that, if true, immediate steps should be taken to reduce the danger to a minimum. Having been a passenger with some ot my family from Featlieftton, on evening the 21st inst,, we were detained several hours at the Summit, with the consciousness of [ having had a very narrow escape from a frightful; accident. Had the goods train not found the slip, there can be little doubt but'.that our passenger train would'have done so, aud as we should have been running down hill, a fearful catastrophe would have occurred. It is well known that this is.far from being the first" narrow escape" during the present Winter, and we have no right to expect that we shall always be so fortunate, as, to make such escapes. This portion of the . line is peculiarly dangerous, and : extra precautions should therefore be takes),.

irrespootive of the question of cost. . lam always .unwilling, in any way, to appear to support the public« idea, that the. Government depart-• ments' are sura. to make. mistakes and require to be told how to conduit their businesa. There - are, hi>fever,. occasions on. which it is desirablfii'at the public should call attention to what • they believe to be a danger, Allow ae, as an instance of this,-to refer to the. / accident ;■ on the "incUne" in Septal ber, 1380, by-, which I : was .so great. a v sufferer.; It waS'knpwn to all sutlers this'district With' what force the wind I ,' blows and this fact ;! had. constantlyijeen reported to the. railway authorlties.but was completelj»' ignored by them. It so happened, thai only- a few weekß;before the accident"! put the question to the then' manager ■ of ,the line, as to whether there was any I; danger from wind, aud was assured most positively, that there was not, ; It; ■ has always been a cause of regreV'to' me sinde, that I did not thon do W',l-

am now doing, and direct the attention, of the thou Minister to the dangflivg ThUt there was culpublo noglect' on tbafc'tj occasion I haveneyerdonbted, and had, such acase.occarred in England a jurp '■ would certainly have given very sub-: .: It is, I think, equallycertainiow that' :, if the JRiinotaka. line; were worked % ■ a company, with the prospect « • " damages" before them in of accident, we should not hear of so,, mauy - narrow escapes, and they would, as a mere matter of business, ..give the public much nrtro : assurance of safety than we' have • present. Is it too much for us |o .ay

hat the travelling public should isaursd that they will, iu future, be ' jarried as safely by the Uovernmpnt • ia they would be by a Company, against wliom the law would give them redress. It is true that in theory the! Government is also liable, but iu prac-, tice we all know how difficult it wpuld be to recover from it, whereas it is ' notorious that juries are always dig.: posed to give a verdict against a Com- • pauy. The statement in the extract from Wairarapa Daily as to the loss of (time in making '.arrangements .for the train to proceed, also appeal's b8 drawing attention. Everythiilj possible was done by the gaarda ,aM^

others on tha spot, and it;.did ,BMui sxtraordiuary that with the telegraph wires, all arotmd, theuecespary arrango,from head quarters in very much less. time. As 1 from a desire tha the public miud should W reliefHP from anxiety, I propose to publish tiitji! letter and yonr reply. Yoq will please' understand that I do not'assume ih». troth of the statements made to danger or neglect, all I. wish is the^. the facts as they appear to the pnblie placed clearly before you, so that should' au accident occar, there can be M. doubt as to the responsibility, lam, Ao., . - 0. l?HAium. (Extract 'lrom WAiHAHAPA BAIW, June 22ud, 1887.) " From what could be seen of t|lj( ■accident tMe was m real nktwly of delaying tho trains more than aim twenty mkutit, but thy wmript.allowed to proceed and meet each, other till a IM of mless ttkjjrapkiuj to hM quarters had hmi indulged in, the result- being nothing more than could' have. been accomplished in the first iastancb.

Railway Department, , , Head Office Wellington, - 28th June; 1887. Sir.-I have the honor to acknojw ledge the receipt of your letter'of: thlf 25th insfc., enclosing some newspaper reports of the accident to. the goods train on the Wellington Railway. I quite> appreciate the motives which have led to your writing to me, and have to thank you for having taken . the tronble to adopt that course; There are certain sections of rail*-. way wliioli, from the features, of tho country, are more liable to slips than others, for instance: between Kopua and Talioraite .certain portions betwagj Halcombe and Hawera, certain 1 tions between Gross' Greek and Upper ; Hutt, between Wellington and Johnsonville, certain ■ portions between Oamavu and Clinton,- &0., &c, ... On the Government Railways, where there is special liability to "'Such. coa- ' tingonoies, extra' precautions .in the" daily examination of the line are taken. Suoh is the case on the Wellington. line, in common with others. Beyond , the common condition that where the country is broken and the earthworks* are heavy, {hero is a greater risk thaw where the features are absent, the' experience of several years has shown that there is no especial liability, to slipi on the Wellington line morethan on many other parts: of the railway, while at the same time extra pre-" oautioDß are taken in various ways. This is a suitable opportunity for directing attention to the demands' made by thoughtless persons for tho running of "fast" passenger';trains■ over this part of the line. Although, tho engine and four truoks were <3jw railed in this -accident no praotiHT damage was done to them,; Had thtf train dm timed'to run at 80 miles an. hour instead of 15, there ir every reason to bolieve that the woident. would have been very severe. I also direct attention to the very erroneousaiid reckless views sometimes enter' tained by the Public. It is'complained that, " theS trains were; not allowed to proceed until a lot of useless telegraphing to head quaiters. had been indulged in." Thera is no telegraphing to the bad. ofiicew suoh oases,if that is, what is implied in this instance-, the impreefsioniserroneous. Theengino which' brought you to the summit was, aj you are no doubt aware, a "Fell"' engine;,. Neither the structures m. the engines are designed for', jthesfr engines to f wp trains.on the ofdiiifiry. line, and it would have been improper to have attempted the course you suggest. On alf railways the power of running . trains is placed, in . thfc hands of one person only on. the tion. - The reasons are universally known to ,be essential to safety. Tha . officer in charge lost no time, and made the needful arrangements, for sending on the Vp&ssengers from tha Summit with the quickest despatch compatible with safety. While-there-

' fore, I must regret tliat the passengers wtfi) compelled to submit to ; the un- • pijbntness of waiting, at the Summit ..it was, under tho circumstances, a ss6* and safe courso to pursue. I shall bo glad if you will adopt tho course you propose, and give full publicity to this .. correspondence, and I beg to return the newspaper slips you enclose, .' . ' ■ I have etc., , t Edward Richardson, ' '• ( ! Minister for Public Woiiifl,