£43/16/5 A TON

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 61, 5 December 1930, Page 7

£43/16/5 A TON

Railways Baggage Fee DUNEDIN COMPLAINT Dominion Special Service. Dunedin, December 3. A Dunedin citizen who returned a few weeks ago after a European tour says that his most annoying experience was as to his baggage on arriving at Auckland. There were three in the party, ana their baggage weighed Sifcwt. He, of course, wanted it carried from Auckland to Dunedin, and this was done by the Railway Department at a charge which works out as equal to £43/16/5 per ton. He has kept a record of the particulars as to trains and checks for reference if the department asks for particulars of his travelling tickets. He was allowed dewt., leaving 2|cwt. to be paid for as excess baggage. The packages as reweighed at Dunedin totalled 2cwt. 3,71 b. The excess charge on this came to i£s/12/6, plus a checking charge of 8/-, he having to pay £6/0/6. ' t t . With exactly the same baggage the party travelled from Liverpool to Quebee and across Canada to Vancouver right on board the steamer without a penny of charge. Mr. D. Rodie, commercial manager of the Railways Department, commenting on the above complaint, said that it must not be thought that the charges were applicable only to tourists; they applied to all travellers on the railways. The department allowed passengers to take with them, free of charge, 1121 b. weight each of their own bona-fide personal luggage? or tourists’, sportsmen’s, or artists’ gear. Children travelling on half-tickets were allowed to take, free of charge, sblb weight of luggage. Any weight of luggage over the allowance was charged for at the 'rate of Bd. for each 281 b. for each 50 miles. Mr. ‘Rodie said that the excess luggage charges in New Zealand were lower tharf many of those on the Australian and South African railways, and compared favourably with those of any other railway department in the world.