THE RAILWAY MARKET TICKET QUESTION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1951, 22 September 1888, Page 3

THE RAILWAY MARKET TICKET QUESTION.

We reprint by request the following letter on this Bubjeot, whioh appears m Thursday's issue of the " Otago Daily Times ":— TO THE EDITOR. Sib,— -Owing to the generous support of yourself and contemporaries m Dunedin on the above question, I was encouraged to start a petition on the Bubjeot, and from the annexed copy of a letter from the Minister of Public Works, you will observe the Kailway Department has so far relaxed the stringency r=> of the conditions attached to market tickets, as to permit anyone to use them without m the first place attending the saleyards, as was insisted on by the Canterbury traffic manager when m the witness box. The following clause of the Minister's letter is, however, worthy of further consideration :— " lam informed that the issue of special tiokets such as these is very common m other parts of the world, where they are used by many millions of travellers annuaUy under similar restrictions on private companies' lines."

No Joubi the above is oorreot as far as it goes, but it should be remembered that m Great Britain there exists a great choice of railways to travel by, and if one takes a market tiokefc by one line a passenger haa generally the option of proceeding on his ■ journey on another ticket by another line of railway, quite independent of the first company's line. In addition it should be considered that great facilities of either trams, busseß, or cabs exist at and from nearly every small market town as well as large ones m Great Britain, and which do not exist m New Zealand owing to the sparseness of its population. So far as my particular csie is concerned there is no aotual town existing at [Washdyke, only the saleyarda, a publio house, and a boiling down establishment, the real market town of the district being Timaru, where the auctioneers have their offices. Com- | mon sense would therefore infer that market tickets would be issued to Timaru as well as to Washdyke, the Bame as is done m the cases of Addington and Ohristchurch. Moreover, this anomaly or restriction is particularly unjust, because previously to the advent of the railways there was a considerable amount of traffic by road between Washdyke and Timaru whioh the railway destroyed; and henoe the travelling pnblio is quite at the mercy of an autooratio Government railway, which monopoliseß the whole of the traffic, and whioh private companies at Home could not effect, owing to a keen competition. The Minister does not Bay m his letter who the experienced traveller was who informed him of the practice at Home as regards market tickets, but it seems a pity that the gentleman m question did not extend his travels as ar as Arabia, as he there might have heard of a proverb (quoted m " Palgrave's Travels ") wbiob the inhabitants apply to a man who leaves hifl own country and returns no wwits t than when he left it— they say "he went away a dpnkey and came baok a jaokass." An acquaintance with the foregoing proverb would have made the experienced traveller more oaref al to learn all the circumstances of this case, which cannot m any way be oompared with railway arrangements m the old country. Now as regards the trial of the case m court before the magistrate, after ta» had deoided that the regulations had beeifevaded by my taking another ticket beyond Washdyke, the Crown Prosecutor olaimed a solicitor's fee of £1 Is. At first the good sense of the magistrate prompted him to refuse the application, but upon being plied with arguments by the Crown Prosecutor he allowed it. Now, I consider this a gross injustice, because it is rarely that fees are allowed under £5 oases ; and, secondly, although the amount olaimed was only 5s fid, still as I suooeeded m getting even that small amount reduced by lOd, it could not ba considered thai the Government bad entirely won its suit, and this oiroumitanoe of itself should have made tha magistrate chary of granting a fee at all. It was, moreover, most painful to an independent mind to witness the marked deference — I might almost say reluctance — whioh the Crown-paid magistrate exhibited to the Crownpaid solicitor when he found he would be compelled to deduot lOd from the olaim. This good understanding existing between Crown officials augurs badly for the publio ; and some change should, I think, be made m the practice of these courts when tha Crown is a litigant. Perhaps if juatioea of the peace were associated with the magistrate m the trial of such oases it migst strengthen his judicial impar. dality; and if be were deprived of the power to grant solicitors' fees m oases under 10a or 20s, it might also serve the enda of justioe. t Apologising for the length of these remarks. lam, etc, f I. B. Gwiohgsaus Quaiv, ilttfirton, gentemjw 18,