49

I.—6a.

T. W. MORTIMER.

81. You know yourself that the majority of the workers travel in the first train? —There is one before No. 6. The majority of them go in No. 4. 82. Would you issue fifty-five for that train and forty for the other? —Say, twenty-five for the first train. 83. And that xvould leave seventy for the second train ?—Yes. 84. Do you date those tickets? —Yes. 85. You put seventy tickets through the dating-machine?—No, they do not go through the machine. I use a rubber stamp. Those tickets are all Stamped previous to the Monday morning. 86. And no names to put on them?— No. 87. How many tickets xvould you sell to the ordinary passengers on that train who do not get weekly tickets?— On an average there xvould be five or six tickets in a morning—that is, the ordinary return tickets. 88. When you issue those tickets do they always come with 2s. or do you have to give them change? —The majority have the right change. 89. Hoxv long do you think it xvould take you to issue the whole lot of those tickets on a Monday morning?—lt is a thing I have never timed. I have other duties to perform while issuing those tickets. 90. How many minutes would it take to issue those seventy-five tickets?—l could not say. 91. Would you be any faster issuing those tickets than they are at the Auckland Station? —No, I might be slower. 92. Could you do it in ten minutes?— Yes. 93. What are your other duties on a Monday morning?— Exchanging the tablet. 94. How far is the tablet-box away from where you sell the tickets?—lt is in the same room. 95. Would you take two minutes for exchanging the tablet?—lt all depends. From one to two minutes. 96. What are your other duties while the train is in?— Controlling the signal. 97. Do you have to go and turn over those levers yourself?— Yes. 98. What are your other duties while tho train is in?— Attending to the passengers, issuing tickets to those who come late. 99. You are responsible to see the gates are closed before the train leaves? —Yes. 100. That takes up a certain amount of time, does it not?—lt would hardly take a minute. 101. Arc there any other duties? —Those are all I know of. 102. What time do you generally start giving out tickets before No. 6 train goes?— The passengers usually come about twenty-five to 7, and the train leaves about ten to 7. 103. They come there about a quarter of an hour before the train starts? —Yes. 104. You have got eighteen minutes' work to do according to your times and you have a quarter of an hour to do it in. In face of that do you mean to tell me that you are not pushed when the trains are in ?—Wo are busy at times, but xve are not pushed, because there are others there who can assist me. 105. In regard to the fog, you consider it xvas not a foggy morning? —I do not, as far as I could see it round the station. 106. Mr. Kennedy.] What kind of a grade is there from Scroggy Hill to New Lynn?—l take it there is a grade down to Titirangi crossing. 107. A downward grade?— Yes. 108. Does it cease at Titirangi crossing?— Yes. 109. Have you seen the map?— Yes, I have come down the grade often enough. 110. Would you be surprised if I told you it did not cease there but continued to considerably past tho Titirangi crossing?—lt xvould be very hard to detect it with the naked eye. 111. You would bo surprised to hear that?— Yes. 112. The foot of the grade is somewhere near the Nexv Lynn Station?— Yes, it is as near as I could make out about 21 chains from the New Lynn Station. 113. Do you knoxv the rules relating to fog-signals?— Yes. 114. Have you read them? —Yes. 115. You know that there are fog-signalling regulations?— Yes. 116. Supposing it is correct that there was a fog, would Regulation 4 (b), page 18 of the Appendix, apply to New Lxmn on that morning?—T do not consider it would. 117. Do you know Rule 158?— Yes, 118. I will read it. This is the part, of it that applies: " During a fog or falling snow, or where, in consequence of the station being approached upon a falling gradient, or for any other reason, special instructions for working are issued, no obstruction must be allowed at the station inside the home signal until the line is blocked to tho signal-box in one or both directions, as may be necessary." Noxv, if there was a fog do you consider that that rule would apply to you then? —It would all depend xvhat kind of a fog it was. 119. Describe what kind of a fog you think? —T consider it does not apply to New Lynn. 120. Not if there was a heavy fog?— No. 121. Hoxv many hand-lamps did you have at Nexv Lynn before the accident?—As far as I can remember there were two. 122. You had a full equipment of fog-signalling appliances? —Yes. 123. Mr. Green.] Did you give tho guard of No. 5 instructions to pull ahead and take water, and go forward and back into the siding on this particular day, prior to the arrival of No. 6? —No. 124. You did not notice if the guard went with his train to open the points and direct the shunting operations? —He usually comes in and asks as regards any shunting. He generally goes about his work then. It is left to the guard to put tho train inside.

7—T. 6a.