84

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the brake is to cause the auxiliary reservoir to equalize with the brake-cylinder. That is the highest pressure you can get, and, of course, that does not amount to anything like 701b., nor is it necessary to have it. But I will show you that the fact that he had 75 lb.—l do not think he had 75 Ib., because 701b. is the pressure which all train-pipes carry —is no indication that he had ample later on. Just to show you how the brake acts I will read you a small paragraph from the Brake Instruction-book —the New Zealand Railways own book on the Westinghouse brake: ''The brakes are fully applied when a reduction of 251b. has been effected in the main train-pipe pressure." So you see that if Corich had 701b. in his train-pipe and brought it down to 501b. lie would get it on no harder : that is the end of it. That is what the book says, ami that is quite correct. It goes on, " The pressure in the brake-cylinders and auxiliary reservoirs having equalized, any further reduction would be waste of air." The brake is a good brake, but it is no use our saying that because he had 75 Ib. in his train-pipe he could keep on using that until he got down to the last 51b. This same book tells you that after you have made an application of the brake it is necessary to leave the handle in recharging position for ten seconds. Of course, Corich had not get ten seconds to recharge his brake. I question if ten seconds would recharge it, but it would go a long way towards it. That will show you that unless a man understands the. brake it is no use arriving at a conclusion as to what pressure he had in the trainpipe or had not. He had no doubt had a full pressure at the top of the hill, but had gradually frittered it away coming down, and he would have stopped all right if he had not released at the very moment when lie should have been applying it in emergency. Pains have been taken in cross-examining witnesses to show that trains would stop at certain distances at certain speeds. That is a matter that is very easily computed, and we do not dispute it at all. That is. all quite correct. But it has absolutely nothing to do with the stopping of the train on that morning. Now. gentlemen, it is your duty to find out the cause of this collision. I am going to tell you why it happened. In the first place, No. 6 train did not stop at the signal. Why? Because there was a fog. The Railway officials at New Lynn were at the mercy of a fog. Why.' Because they had taken no steps to carry out the Department's regulations which provided for the safety of the trains and the public in a fog; and, further, because the driver in charge of the train did not know the road that he was running on sufficiently well to be able to stop at that home signal without the assistance prescribed in the rules and regulations—namely, tog-signals. The second main reason is that there was an obstruction on the line, which is contrary to the Department's own rules and regulations. I do not think I can tell you any more. That is the cause of the collision. 1 just want to say this: the driver—Driver Corich —is spoken well of by his superior officer. He is a young man. He is married. Mr. Scott has said that he has no reason to think that Corich would take longer to learn the road than anybody else. That means thajt he is a man of ordinary intellect. There have been numbers of cases in New Zealand where men have passed signals and have not been dismissed, the reason being that the consequences were not so sci ions as in this case. A number of men have passed signals when there was no fog, yet they have not been dismissed. I have very vividly in my mind just now the case of a very old driver who knew the road thoroughly well. Some years ago at Henley he ran past the signal in a fog. He knew the road well. That man was not dismissed —all honour to the Department. They recognized what he had to contend with. Corich has been dismissed. He has spent a part of his life that is very important to him—eight or nine years—in learning to be an engine-driver, and now the Department have practically robbed him of his railway life by casting him right out for one small error of judgment. I do not think any one can accuse him of anything more than that. I think it must be admitted that he did the best he could under the conditions under which he was working and with the knowledge which he possessed. I will not say he did the best that could have been done, but I think the most you can accuse him of is that he made a small error of judgment, and I think the punishment he has received is out of reason and altogether too severe. 1 hope that this Committee will be able to suggest that some other punishment might be meted out to him that would be more fitting to a man who has been unfortunate. There is no culpabilitj 7 ; there is nothing criminal about it. The man cannot be charged even with carelessness; but we can show that-other men were careless and that they led up to this man's downfall. I thank you for the patient way in which you have listened to my address. 3. Mr. Sykes.] It was stated that in the Auckland District no notice was taken of Hide 158 with reference to fog. Is that rule carried out in its entirety in all other portions of the Dominion? Is the Auckland District the only exception? —I can only speak for my own district —it is carried out in Canterbury; and I know it is carried out in Dunedin. 4. To your knowledge drivers have passed signals in the past and have not been dismissed : were they not reduced in grade or punished in some other way?— Yes, they were punished. I said that the results in their cases were not so serious as in this. But they passed the signal in daylight. I mentioned one man who had passed in a fog. I merely mentioned that to show that it was possible for a good man who knuw the road thoroughly to miss his signal in the fog.

Mr. Mack, Secretary, Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, made a statement. (No. 28.) Witness: I should like to say a xvord or two xvith regard to this matter, and I xvill be as brief as I possibly can. I was not aware that it would be competent for us to reviexv the evidence after we last met the Committee. I xvas notified that the evidence could be looked at, but I wrote to your secretary telling him that I had no desire to go over the evidence at all ; but there are one or two things I xvould just like to mention. With regard to tho statement made by Mr. Kennedy that the regulations had not been complied xvith. I respectfully submit there is no regulation in the book dealing with this matter that he can say has been neglected. To infer that the regulations have not been complied with is to say that the officials who were there