RETURNED SOLDIERS' PRIVILEGE RAILWAY TICKETS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 18, 23 January 1919, Page 6

RETURNED SOLDIERS' PRIVILEGE RAILWAY TICKETS

PRECAUTIONS AGAINST FRAUD. Preaf Association.! WELLINGTON, This Day. .Base Records*'says:— The Railway Department has had to steps to protect returned soldiers’ /privilege of four'weeks’ free travelling by inserting "that precautions against .'its use by those noi entitled, to it shall be strictly observed. As a result . 'a number of soldiers, •'who were travelling without a cerufi- ■ cate of discharge, are held up in various parts of, .New JJe aland. The ticket J i» of value and privilege, but, has been abused somewhat, because the precah- ' tipßfi laid down, in the Returned Soldiers* Handbook and repeated on the ’warrant for the .tickets and again on J the tickets itself were not being generic ally carried ou\|‘ . . i "■ When the privilege., was first introduced, it was available only during the : 'period 01 leave prior to discharge, so ' that a soldier was in uniform when travelling and there was little chance '■iof the ticket being used by an unauthorised person. Now the privilege is for any 28-day period within 1 three months of the soldier’s return, . thus enabling men to spend some time at their homes before commencing to . travel, and the extension of the period carries it beyond the date of discharge, i so that a soldier can travel in mufti. Under these circumstances, as experience of actual cases of Impersonation has shown, the Railway Department finds H necessary to strictly enforce the . conditions primed on the tickets, that a returned soldier’s certificate of discharge must be exhibited to the guards or ticket-collector when travelling, or - if the soldier has not" been discharged ■ his leave certificate must be carried and shown. Officers who receive no certificate of discharge are required to produce their notice of having been _ struck off the - strength of the Expeditionary Force. Base Records posts a soldier’s discharge to the ad3res a he has notified , before the actual date of his discharge, so aa to avoid any difficulty in using tlCe rail privilege, but men are evidem- . fy travelling while their discharges are 3 waitin*. them at home, making "no arrangements to Have these necessary f 4ocument e forwarded on. To try to . Overcome this difficulty, Base Records i will, ,in future, post discharges not less than ten days prior to 4h e date of dis- ; chaygte, and as a reaul; of representationa by the Defence, Department, the General Manager of Railways has agreed 1 to return impounded tickets on this production, where possible, of the soldier’s certificate of discharge, or this is impossible, the Department will " accept a telegyam from Base (Records, giving a description of the soldier and , a. copy of discharge. The Railway Department will refund any fare charged I; • to 'soldiers for journeys taken prior to j ; I impounding. It will, however, strictly • enfpree the conditions in future.