H.—24.

54

[h. leak.

12. How would you define the difference between a failure and a weakness?—l should consider that if a brake will not act on the motors it is a failure, but that if a brake will not act with the first or second notch, but with the third, it is a weakness. 13. We have instances in your service where the brake fails to stop the-car at the sixth notch. Would that be a failure or a weakness? —It depends upon the speed of the car. 14. Mr. Fitsgibbon.] Is it not a fact that there are some motormen whose reports you take notice of and others whose reports you do not notice at all? —No. Of course, one can take more notice of some men than of others,' but that does not say that one would not take notice of any one. Ido not discriminate. It is natural that one can certainly put more reliance on some men's version of a matter than other's, and I do to a certain extent; but one must take notice of 15. If a car failed to stop on the sixth notch, what would be the speed at which it might fail? —I should say about two or three miles an hour. 16 The Chairman.} You mentioned that you only knew of two absolute failures of the magnetic brake?— One of them was previously mentioned by Mr. Cable, regarding the reverse bearing coming loose, and the other was when 1 took out a car myself to test for loss of residual magnetism in the motors. . ,_ ~ 17 You were on Car 62 yesterday when the brake failed to stop it?— Yes. My opinion is that the wheel skidded, as I could hear it inside. If there was a flashing over the commutators, of course, they would lock. If the wheel skidded 1 would not class it as an absolute failure. The car in question had been specially insulated on the cone. 18 What do you consider the limits of effectiveness as regards speed?— About three miles to eighteen and twenty miles an hour to be safe, although we have stopped at about twenty miles 19* If a car were running on a down grade at about twenty-five miles an hour, is there a chance of the brake failing to act?— With the magnetic brake alone it is possible to flash _ over. It flashed over yesterday, and the wheels skidded. I admit that the flash-over is the primary lb< 2o Mr Beattie] Touching the admitted failure of the brake to stop the car yesterday, suppose the motorman had attempted to make the same emergency stop in order to avoid running nto a vehicle coming from a side street, would you have considered the brake a ailure or would you have blamed the motorman for having failed to properly apply it ?-With reference to yesterday's case, the brake was really improperly applied. I asked the motorman the cause of the failure and he told me that he had some difficulty in applying the brake through one of the Com. Soners being on the platform and not giving him enough room. He said, when bringing the controller-handle round his arm was impeded. , 21 The Chairman.] When the speed-indicator showed twenty-one miles an hour the motau,an came on the first notch and afterwards pretty quickly on to the second. If I had retarded him STny way it would have stopped him from getting on to the second notch as quickly ] a iossib c but ai a matter of fact, he had sufficient room even though I was standing on the platFori Ther 'is no doubt that there was a flashing over the commutator <jnd to may have been subsequent skidding, but that was not from the sudden application of the brake. Do you a gl ee G«moK E*™ W*, Traffic Superintendent, Wellington City Tramways, sworn and examined. Examined by Mr. O'Shea : I, have been se rvice, and have had twelve years' e.pe™ m A tnca. J c F^ £ke° f I SJS that it is an eSective brake for the Wellington service, and as reliable as any ottter I knoj at. 1. Mr. Myers.] In your in thJerking of the vacuum brake on the have you had experience of J-I have had infallible I have had no other tramway 5 its full extent, as the wheels may then have a tendency any necessity for it.