The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1888. LOST RAILWAY TICKETS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1919, 15 August 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1888. LOST RAILWAY TICKETS.

It seemß from a recent judgment given m tho English Court of Appeal that a railway passenger who happens to lose his ticket and declines to pay for another one cannot be expelled from his carriage. The circumstances under which this decision was given aie shortly as follows : — A wholesale confectioner took an excursion ticket by the Man chester-Sheffield and Lincolnshire Bailway, for which he paid 2s 6d, the ordinary fare from Sheffield to Manchester being 8s sd. At Manchester he gave up one half of his ticket, keeping the other for the return journey. This latter he mislaid m some way, and when the guard demanded it, he waß unable to j produce it. He offered to pay the. 2s 6d, the price of the excursion ticket, half of which he had already used. The guard refused to accept this, and demanded 3s sd, the ordinary fare. He refused to pay, and was thereupon summarily ejected and detained at the station for forty-five minutes, until he handed over the 3s sd. He then brought an action against the company for assault, and Mr Justice Manisty gave jndgmonfc-for the defendants, holding that the company were within -their rights m ejecting him. The confectioner was, however, a man of pluck, and also a man of means. He carried his case before the Appeal Court, and the latter decided m his favor. This Court held that the only consequence of his not producing his ticket was that the company might sue him for his fare. There was no by-law providing for his ejectment ; and some of the judges expressed doubt as to the validity of such a by-law had there been one. This is the first time ever such a case has ceme before the Court, and the reason, as a contemporary says, is not far to seek. Most men woald have preferred to pa> the 3s 5d rather than run the risk of a heavy law action and the ignominy attaching to a defeat Bhould they prove unsuccessful. However, now that the matter has been tested m the highest Court, m the Empire, people who map happen to hare lost their tickets will not stand m such dread of that awsome personage, the railway guard.