Page:Ashburton•Scotter•1972.pdf/152

three carriages. Four people were killed—three young unmarried women and a child—and some forty injured.

Warned immediately by George Hardy, son of C. A. C. Hardy the principal Rakaia storekeeper, Dr. Lewis Maxwell Cordner was soon busy among the casualties. A large room in the Post Office served as a hospital. Pieces of wreckage were used as splints and strips torn from rolls of calico from Hardy’s shop as bandages. C. A. C. Hardy stood out among the nine local men who helped the railwaymen in the work of rescue. The south express arrived and two nurses on it assisted the doctor, while the district locomotive engineer, A. L. Beattie, also on the express, took charge of further rescue. At 9.20 p.m. a train left for Christchurch with the fourteen worst cases. Others were tended through the night by the licensee of the Railway Hotel, Alexander Craighead and his wife. Doctors Trevor, Hunter, Bolger and Maude arrived from Ashburton, but were too late. The excursion trains were able to move off by 10 p.m.

This accident was a critical event in New Zealand railway history. Carter became the scapegoat; but the real cause was the poor equipment of railways for which little had been done during the depression. Fortunately, therefore, the accident shocked the authorities who were well aware of the position into making three long overdue improvements. Almost immediately they installed fixed-semaphore signals at all crossing stations, interlocked with the lines where necessary. Soon afterwards came the tablet system. Then all passenger and freight trains were fitted throughout with continuous automatic (Westinghouse) brakes.

During this period social life in the town of Ashburton developed in the face of many obstacles, one of which was the long hours worked by most employees. It was no coincidence that team games such as cricket and rugby attracted little support until government regulations provided for a weekly half-holiday and shorter hours. Nevertheless, although many people worked from 8 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., there was a surprising amount of support for a large number of organizations.

Working hours did not affect church services and as was shown by the need to enlarge the churches, a large part of the population attended church on occasion if not regularly each Sunday. The