The inquest on the Abergele tragedy has not yet terminated,
but it has become evident that the fault, if fault there was, lay with the managers of the goods' train, which at the time of the accident was being shunted into Llandulas. The mail train was all right, going at its proper speed and in its proper place, but there was carelessness in the management of the goods' train. It ought not to have been so close before the mail train, and with petroleum on board ought to have been guarded far more care- fully. There was no guard, apparently, behind, when the trucks began slipping down the incline ; he had jumped off, after, as he says, applying the break ; and there is a question about the machinery employed to keep the siding open not yet investigated. The single fault on the mail train was that of locking the doors, either on both sides or one side,—a cruel practice, by which Railway Directors risk the lives of thousands in order to save the few shillings which might be lost by swindlers jumping out before the guard comes for tickets. We trust juries will not for- get, when estimating the claims to compensation for this accident, that nothing but tremendous fines will ever induce the railway oligarchs to abandon this custom. Opinion is perfectly powerless against greed, as powerless as it is to make the proprietors of music halls provide wide entrances.
