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I.—6a.

S. KENNEDY.)

morning that No. 27 he ran from Auckland to Henderson. That was going up this hill, but learning a road one way does not always teach you it the other way, though it certainly is an assistance. When he got to Henderson he came back to Newmarket that day. That was No. 22 trip—coming back to Newmarket. Then from Newmarket he went to Avondale. That was No. 33 train. Then from Avondale he went to Auckland.- You will see that during that day he had only driven once down Scroggy Hill into New Lynn. From Mr. Scott's evidence you would almost suppose that Coricli had gone four times from Scroggy Hill to New Lynn, whereas he had only gone once. And on the other two days he had done just the same : the other running was between Newmarket and Avondale. Then, on the 15th he was on a work-train. On the 16th he went from Auckland to Henderson tiring : that was on a Sunday. He was firing on the trip up and down. On the 28th he was on a work-train, driving, but on that date he did not get past Henderson —he broke down, and stopped short of Henderson. The next day, 29th March, he whs again on the work-train. He did no more on the north line till the 10th April. He then went firing on the work-train. That was one trip up and one trip down. The 29th March was the last day he was driving on the north road until the day of the accident : it was nearly two months from the time he ran a train on that road till the day of the accident. He had been away up at Helensville and Wellsford relieving, but that did not take him over this part of the road. On the 26th he went out firing to Henderson, and the 28th was the occasion of the accident. Corich was on his sixth trip down from Henderson to Auckland as a driver. He had run five trips before. He had done two trips down as a fireman prior to the accident. He had gone five times up Scroggy Hill driving, and three times as a fireman, before the accident. Those were the duly trips that Corich made, and they agree with Mr. Scott's statement that he had run about twenty-one trips on the north road; but a good many of these trips did not take him near the scene of the accident, and him no opportunity of learning that portion of the road. 1 myself had an experience in a fog, when I was running the express between Orari and Rangitata; and I can assure you that although I had run on that road for years and years, when this fog came on I found myself practically helpless. When a -man gets into a fog, although he knows the road well when it is fine weather, he is practically helpless in the fog, unless he has something very definite to mark where he is. Rule 05 stipulates that when a signal is not seen at its proper time that it is to be treated as a " Danger " signal. This scarcely applies to Corich that morning, because he did not know whether he should see the signal or not. Therefore it is quite useless saying that he should have treated it as a " Danger " signal if he did not see it. He did not know whether he was at the place to see it. One thing I want to say is that I am very pleased indeed there is no suspicion of any liquor in this case. There is no charge of carelessness on the part of the driver in this case —no evidence that he was careless. There is evidence that he made an error of judgment, and I want to know if that is a crime. It is a question, I think. This man, no doubt, did his very best under the circumstances and in the situation in which he was placed from his own point of view—he did the very best he could to carry out the rules and regulations. Where the error was made was that he should have slowed down and stopped if necessary till he found out where he was. But I have pointed out to you the disabilities that a young man labours under. He considers it is a stigma upon him if he runs late, and there is no doubt that was the thought that prevented him from carrying out what I will admit would have been better judgment on his part. Corich is a young man. He is married. You have heard what the Locomotive Foreman has said with regard to his character as far as he knows it, and with regard to his capacity. There is nothing whatever to suggest that he was not doing the best he could at the time the disaster overtook him. There has been a question about the brake. I want, if 1 can, to convey to you what did take place in descending that hill, and why the brake did not pull the train up at the finish as rapidly as it should have done. Corich, though not having a very definite knowledge of the road, still had a very vivid idea that there was a steep grade down into New Lynn. I think he knew that; he says he knew it. And he knew that he would have to hold his train with his brake. He says that he did so, and his fireman corroborates that, also the guard. He must have done it, because a grade of 1 in 45 is a very steep one, and the train would have gained a very high speed if it had not been braked down. He had his brake on, and there is no doubt that when he got into the fog he held his brake on. When he got near the finish he kept holding his brake on and peering into the fog, and wondering where the signal was, and doing his best to find the station. He had released, and had got hold of the train again with the second or third reduction. But he had during that process been continually depleting his auxiliary reservoir's pressure, and at the very last lie held his brake on and watched for the signal, and when he could not see it and the train had slowed down to ten or fifteen miles an hour he thought "It must be a little further on." He, no doubt, noticed that owing to the change of grade the train was slowing up, that it was not mi difficult to hold it as it had been further up the road; and, unfortunately, lie released his brake, and just at tiiat moment he spotted the bottom of the home signal alongside of him. He immediately dashed his brake on to "Emergency" and tried to stop the train. He had been using the brake; he had probably made a reduction at the top of the hill, and probably just before he reached the home signal instead of having 701b. in his train-pipe he did not have more than 501b., and if he only had 501b. in his train-pipe he would only have r>o lb. or perhaps less in his auxiliary reservoir. 'J , he result would be that his brake would have very little effect on the train. It would have an effect, but not the effect that it should have when he tried to make an emergency application. He would not get an emergency application; he would only get a very small application. During Mr. McVilly's examination of Mr. Corich he seemed to be under the impression that because Corich had 75 lb. in his train-pipe, if he made an application of 6 lb. or 5 lb. he would still have the other 69 Ib. or 701b. for a further application. That is entirely wrong. Although you have 701b. in your train-pipe you never can on any occasion put 701b. in your brake-cylinder. It is a matter of equalizing. The highest pressure that you can get on a service application of

12—1. 6a.