"CREW PASSES"
FOR OWNERS ONLY
SEAMAN CONVICTED
When a seaman is discharged from his employment away from his home port the company gives him a "crew pass" on which he can travel home free. The presentation of such a pass, which had been issued to another man, led to the appearance in the Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon of a seaman, Joseph Faulkner, on a charge of travelling on the steamer Maori without paying his fare. Counsel's submission that the original owner could transfer the ticket to whom he wished was not upheld by Mr. E. Page, S.M., and Faulkner was fined £2.
Detective-Sergeant L. Revell said that on the night of December 1 the defendant got on board the MaoiU at Wellington by presenting a "crew pass" belonging to another man. When the purser went to see him next morning he was missing, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The purser gave evidence along these lines. -
For the defence, Mr. F. W. Ongley said that the question in dispute was whether it was lawfulto travel on another man's ticket. He said that a man could give away any right unless it was made unassignable, and this particular right was ■ not made unassignable!. .
Asked by the Magistrate to explain why Faulkner was using the other man's discharges, Mr. Ongley said that the defendant was desirous of travelling south without his identity being known, because of internal trouble in the Seamen's Union..
The purpose of the "crew passes" was clearly td take men back to their home ports, said Mr. Page. It seemed that there was no obligation on the company to carry anyone else but a member of the crew, and therefore the ticket was not available to anyone else. It looked as if the defendant knew that, because he had armed himself with the other man's discharges, and maintained that he was that man; counsel's explanation did not quite account for that fact.
The detective-sergeant said that the Union Company regarded the offence as very serious. It was a common practice, of seamen to sell their "crew passes" to others./
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19350302.2.137
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Issue 52, 2 March 1935, Page 14
Word Count
352"CREW PASSES" Evening Post, Issue 52, 2 March 1935, Page 14
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