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THE LITTLE RIVER RAILWAY
COLLISION.
IBvTelezraph.l
Melbourne. Anril 20.
The official enquiry by Judge Mickman
Molesworth and Messrs. Blyth and Couihe
into the Little River accident waa concluded
on Saturday so far as taking the evidence
was concerned, me principal witness on
Satnrday was Mr. Richard Speight, the
Chairman of the Railway Commissioners,
whose evidence was taken at great length.
He was very emphatic in condemning the
conduct of the Stationmaster at Werribee in
leaving the station to go to choir practice
when he ought to have been on duty,
and, on the general question, expressed
the opinion that the working of the
Victorian railways should be more strictly
in accordance with the regulations
laid down, for when once a rule waa tacitly
permitted to stand in abeyance there was no
security for the other rules not being treated in
a similar fashion, especially in working single
Iine3, for which Mr. Speight strongly advo
cated the staff and ticket system. Adherence
ta the rules should be insisted upon as being
absolutely essential to safety. At the time
of the Little River accident it was quite
donbtfnl where the goods train would pasa
the passenger train, and this state of doubt
aud uncertainty met with Mr. Speight's nn
qnalified disapprobation. It transpired in
the course of the enquiry that the Railway
Commissioners are having a regular overhaul
of the rules beariDg on the use of the staff,
crossing, &c.
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