REPORTERS' TICKETS.

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 130, 30 November 1906, Page 4

REPORTERS' TICKETS.

♦ j IPer Press Association. l 1 Dunedin, November 29. ! J. Long, proprietor of The Tri- ! bune, was charged at the Police j Court this morning, before Mr Graham, S.M., with having wilfully ! given a false certificate with the ob- j ject of obtaining a reduction of pas- I sengei* fare in connection with the | traffic on the New Zealand Govern- j ment Railways. The case was in j connection with the issue of a re- \ quest for granting a ticket at one- j fourth of the ordinary rates to John -i Laffey, a publican at Cromwell. Ac- ' cording to' the evidence, Laffey had j undertaken to do the travelling for j tho paper on commission to get ad- : vertisements, etc., and to be paid by | results for information supplied re- ! specting irrigation, mining, etc., also trade notes. Laffey said he had supplied the information verbally, and Long corroborated this statement. Defendant denied that he knew Laffey was impossible as a reporter. Literary ability, he said, was not necessary for a reporter. He thought he was quite entitled to issue a certificate. The Magistrate said that these privileges granted to the Press were of a very valuable nature and should be jealously regarded by them and carefully adhered to. The question was: Could he regard Laffey as a reporter permanently employed on the paper. He held defendant must have known Laffey could not be interpreted as coming within the privilegej and that the certificate was improperly issued. As this was his first offence he would not inflict a severe penalty (the maximum is £10), but defendant would be fined £2 10s and costs £2 4s. Mr Fraser said that they were not pressing the matter, but it was well that publicity should be given to it. It might check others, and save the Department from the loss of, he supposed, £500 to £1000 a year.