23

I.—6a

Were you a passenger on either of these excursion trains ?—I was a passenger on the last returning train (Garter's). Have you any recollection of what part of the train you were iv ? —I was in about the fifth carriage from the engine. Did the train start, according to your old railway experience, very quickly from Ashburton ? — From my experience, it started decidedly too quick, considering the conditions of the night; it was rough and wet. They were running at a speed of from thirty to thirty-five miles an hour in less than a mile. Was it a speed you thought too great for the line and the night, and otherwise ?—lt was an unsafe speed at any time, seeing the conditions of the gauge and the general character of the railway. Did the carriages rock unusually ?—No. I was in a very good carriage, and it ran more like a sledge than a railway-carriage. As an old railway-man, you would be alert for any whistles, or would note if the steam was shut off? Can you tell us what was done? Did you observe anything at all?—As far as my recollection serves me, it appeared to be half e.n hour after we left Ashburton that we felt the brakes suddenly applied. Would it be the front or the back brakes ? —It appeared to be from the front. We were all put at a severe angle in the oarriage; the brake was applied too strong. Was that shortly before the collision ? —lt appeared to be about the intermediate time from when the whistles for the guard's brake were used until we arrived at the station. Then, you heard the whistles for the guard's brake?— Distinctly, and made the remark to my son, who was sitting alongside me, " Jack, there's trouble brewing." Did you form any idea of where the guard's brake was put on ? Did you notice any pull from behind?—No, there was no oscillation. Or bumping ? —Or bumping of the carriages together or anything of that sort. Pro Mr. Carter.] How could you tell what speed we were going, sitting in the carriage ?—The intuitive knowledge of an engine-driver, with the pulsations, is what he has to go by in the matter of speed in the dark; and the quick-recurring noise of the joints of the wheels going over the rails gave me an idea of the speed. It is a sort of knowledge you gain through being so many years on a railway. You felt the shock half-way between the whistles ? —The brake was on before the whistling. The whistlings for the brake to be put on seemed to be about intermediate from the time the brakes were applied and the time of the shock of the collision. Mr. Pendleton.] Was there any slacking of speed noticed by you when the whistling for the brakes occurred ?— No, I only noticed the gradually retarding effect of the brake power on the train. There was just one continual pull up all the way. The entire passengers in the coach seemed to have the idea that they were being held back by the brake power. That, I would point out, gentlemen, is evidence given by a man of some considerable experience, and a man who had no interest in the thing either one way or the other. There was a question raised yesterday with regard to a similar brake failing at Styx and Sefton. I will read you what the driver in charge of that engine said before the Boyal Commission. The following questions were put to him which he replied to, via.— Mr. Pendleton.] Did you on approaching Rakaia get the proper signal ?—Yes, after whistling for it. And the train was well under control ?—Yes. How did you brake the train in ?—By using the tender-brake ; first by getting the couplings tightened and getting the carriages together and taking the weight off it, and then using the air brake. Pro Driver Garter]. Did you, when driving a Baldwin engine, run past two stations (Styx and Sefton) in consequenoe of your air-brake failing to act ?—I remember running past those two stations. It was not in consequence of the air-brake failing to act; but on those occasions—it happened on the same day—it was the second day the Baldwin engine ran. It was the first day she ran with a mixed train, and the brake was not in working order and was not taken up as it should be ; and it was also my fault to a certain extent. It was not due to any failure of the air-brake. Mr. Pendleton.] You say it was partly your fault. Can you make your statement more complete by saying what part was your fault ? —The brake had not got into working order. Was it through inexperience ?—No. It was rough, and the cylinders did not act smoothly. Then with regard to Carter's working-time. Yesterday, I am afraid, the impresson left on your minds would be that he was a very much overwrought man. The actual time-sheets have been sent for but are not here yet. I have a note here of what time Carter knocked off work on the Friday preceding the accident. He knocked off work at 3.25 p.m. —in the middle of the afternoon of Friday. He came on duty on Saturday at 6.40 a.m. On the Friday he came on duty at 2,45 a.m., ran the Christcburch-Ashburton in at 3.25, and did not come on next morning till nearly 7 o'clock. But the actual time-sheets will be sent up here. Carter was detained at Bakaia through this accident and instead of arriving home on the Saturday night to time-table he did not get home till half an hour after midnight. With that excursion he ran to Ashburton, he left Christchurch at 7.45 a.m. and got to Ashburton at a quarter to 11, being fifteen or twenty minutes late— not exceeding half an hour —making it before 11 o'clock when he arrived. He could go into the engine-shed and rest there until it was time to come out and take the 6.15 train home. Well, approximately from a quarter to 11 in the morning to 6 o'clock at night the engine did not turn a wheel in Ashburton. With reference to the method of computing time, about which Carter seemed rather undecided yesterday, the time Carter comes on duty in the morning is booked and time counts from that till the time he goes off duty at night, with this proviso, that if he has to stand at a station, as Carter had to do, roughly speaking, from a quarter to 11 till 6 o'clock at night —say seven hours—without turning a wheel, the department only pays three hours of that stand-ing-time. They think that three hours is a fair proportion for any standing-time. If a man stands three hours at a station, he is paid for the whole of it. If he stands four hours, he is paid for three hours ; one hour is deducted off. Any overtime which is made beyond fifty-four hours per week is paid for at the rate of time and a quarter. On Sundays, if called upon to do Sunday duty, which is not very often, Sunday time stands on its own bottom; he is paid at the rate of time and a quarter, which is separate from the week. With regard to lodging allowance, if a driver is away from home at night, in addition to getting his ordinary day's pay, he is allowed 4s. per night for his lodging-allowance. There is one point here which Mr. Carter referred to yesterday, and in his statement he led you to suppose that he had no assistance from the guard's brake. We have it in evidence that the guard did put the brake on—-that is to say, the man who was acting as guard, instead of ticket-collector. He put the brake on, and kept it on. This is the evidence given before the Boyal Commission, viz.: —