Thrown from Main Trunk Line . . . 

Taumarunui, May 25: Shortly after 7 o’clock this morning a big AB engine weighing over 70 tons was thrown from the line on a bluff near Kakahi salmon hatcheries, about nine miles from Taumarunui. The engine was returning to Taumarunui after banking the mail train, which was running very late. No warning was received by the crew, but just as the engine arrived at the spot the whole bank gave way, and took the ballast from under the line. The driver was thrown clear, but the fireman, Johansen, was pinned, and had to be released. He suffered slight injuries to his back. The engine is now lying upturned 20 feet from the rails. "How the mail and the Limited trains got over is a wonder to me," he told a pressman. "If they had been caught it would have been worse than the Ongarue disaster, as there is nearly a straight drop to the road below, with the Wanganui River further down still."

 . . . as another train saved

Palmerston North, May 25: A railway disaster was averted this morning, when the gangers proceeding to work between Tokomaru and Shannon observed that the line across a small bridge at Kara Creek, two miles on the Palmerston North side of Shannon, was a little twisted. The express from Palmerston North to Wellington was then due, and was flagged and stopped just in time. It was a fortunate circumstance that the Limited express from Auckland was late, else it would have probably run on to the bridge before the gangers went out. A proper examination of the foundations of the bridge is not yet possible owing to the flood waters. All trains were held up on either side of the bridge until 1pm; when the Limited express for Wellington got through by the carriages being pushed over singly, the passengers walking over the bridge, which was strengthened with sleepers sent from Palmerston North on the second Main Trunk south-bound express.

Drinking by young women

"That there are few homes in New Zealand where alcoholic beverages are used at meals in place of tea there is no doubt, but to see many of the young people sipping their cocktails in hotel lounges and supper rooms, one would immediately jump to the conclusion that they had been drinking liquor all their lives," said a prominent church worker. "The modem girl is a frivolous miss. She likes to make a holy show of herself, and one of the most successful ways of doing this she finds is to copy the vices of the young people of the opposite sex. That is why a girl smokes. You can’t tell me that these girls like to smoke. They do it because it’s being done. Then there is the influence of the young men. I think that they are at the root of the trouble. It is idle to say that drinking isn’t going on amongst young women to a very great extent. Anyone who doubts it may secure the evidence by taking a walk past one of the leading dance halls on the occasion of a big dance." That the modern young man who claims to be the friend of a girl, though in reality her worst enemy, is primarily responsible for "spotting" amongst the young people of the opposite sex was the opinion expressed by several other women workers. — ODT, 26.5.1925

Compiled by Peter Dowden