Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Friday 9 May 1947, page 1


JUDGE MANSFIELD TO

HEAD INQUIRY

INTO RAILWAY SMASH

BRISBANE, May S.-The court of inquiry into the railway disaster at Camp Mountain on Monday will be presided over by Mr Justice Mansfield, who will have with him as assessors Pro-fessor Hawken, professor and dean of the faculty of engineering at the Queensland University, and Mr D. W. Trewin, president of the Queensland branch of the Australian Federated Union of

Locomotive Enginemen.

ANNOUNCING the appointment

of the inquiry's personnel, the

Premier (Mr Hanlon) said after a meeting of the Executive Coun-cil this morning that the inquiry would probably begin on Monday. LAST FOUR FUNERALS

The last four funerals of the victims took place today, when thousands of people paid a tribute

to the dead.

The heavy demand for floral tributes from all over Australia that local florists had to meet,

indicated the shock that the news of the tragedy brought to people all over the Common-wealth.

Wreaths were piled high on each of the hearses and thousands of people watched silently as the funeral processions passed through

the streets.

TRIBUTE TO DRIVER

As the funeral of Howard C. Hinds, driver of the train, passed through Wobloongabba this morn-ing after a short service at a funeral parlour in the city, a large

crowd stood in silence.

The funeral passed between two locomotives, brought from the Wooloongabba railway yards, where Driver Hinds had been sta-tioned, while 18 of his comrades,

including the fireman whose place was taken by Fireman Knight, who also lost his life, marched in front of the hearse, which was flanked by eight more of Driver Hinds'

workmates.

Other railwaymen, who came straight from their work, stood in silence on the two locomotives and others lined up in front as the hearse, with 22 cars following, passed through.

Boxers attended the funeral of Francis Delaney, 19, of Doomben.

Nearly 200 people attended the funeral service for 20-year-old Daphne Cochrane, of Newstead.

Driver Hinds, who was pinned in the wreckage for five hours before being released, only to die suddenly about 24 hours later, was today described by one of the rescuers as one of the gamest men he had ever

seen.

While pinned down in the wreck-age, Driver Hind had assisted to

cut his way with a hacksaw and had given advice to the operator

of the oxyacetylene torch en-deavouring to cut him free of a steel bar.

MEMORIAL SERVICES

Memorial services for the vic-

tims were held today, when rela-

tives and friends of the deceased attended, as well as many of the general public.

The Governor and the various Government Departments were of-ficially represented.

At St John's Anglican Cathe-dral, Dean Barrett, who gave the memorial, said he had been in-formed on competent authority, that it was a miracle that the engine and tender of the train were thrown each to one side of the track, as but for this, a worse disaster would probably have occurred. God's mercy was in this, the Dean said.

After paying a tribute to the courage of fortitude of those who underwent the or-deal, the Dean asked: "Why must it always be war or a disaster such as this train accident to bring out the finest in people? Why should there be so little indication of the same qualities in ordinary peaceful life?"

At St Stephen's Roman Catho-lic Cathedral, a Requiem Mass was offered for the victims. The celebrant was the Rev. Father

Armstrong, whose brother, Kevin Armstrong, lost his life in the

disaster.

The Premier (Mr Hanlon) and the Commissioner for Railways (Mr Wills) attended St Stephen's Cathedral. A moving tribute to the dead was paid by Dean Carl-

ton.