RAILWAY "MEANNESS."

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 378, 15 July 1911, Page 5

RAILWAY "MEANNESS."

To the Editor. Sir, —Is not "Fatigued" a little carping in his criticism? The Railway Department has many sins to answer for and sticks are plenty if one cares to castigate. So far as return tickets are concerned, however, the limit of available time is longer than it is at Home, or in a good many other places. So long as there is a limit it is foolish to talk of "meanness" because it is adhered to. "Fatigued's" argument boils down to a suggestion that the limit be extended by one day. Has he suggested this to the Department? And if the concession is made will he undertake not to appeal to the Lord in pathetic patience when he happens to travel at the end of the new limit. . . and so, ad infinitum. Or does he approve of a limit that is not a limit? No! Rules are rules, and should be enforced, and the Department exhibits not meanness but merit in rigid adherence. My own view is that a railway is a trading concern selling seating accommodation for a given distance at specified rates. If it accepts payment —effects a sale in other words —it should be prepared to deliver the goods on time. Limit on so-called "return" tickets is (legally) dishonest. I would not hesitate to work out a "return half" either a day or a year after I had paid for it. But if fine or imprisonment arrive as a consequence it has to be taken as part of the game and it is idle to whine about "meanness." The trouble lies in the limit —and that is not meanness but fraud. If "Fatigued" would allow the boarding of the train within the specified limit of time, to be compliance with the regulations, what would he say to a man who got on in Wellington when the line is open to Whangerei and the "limit." expired ten minutes after the train started. Or consider Vladivostock on a througn ticket to Brussels! I am afraid that "Fatigued's" trouble is subjective, and his lack—logic.—I am, etc., TIRED. P.S. Following "Fatigued" on the railway, I notice the K.C.C. refers to "An Ancient Skull Found"! I« there connection - or merely coincidence ?