PASSENGER'S COMPLAINT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17497, 15 June 1920, Page 4

PASSENGER'S COMPLAINT.

STEAMEK ACCOMMODATION. BELATED -CLAIM FAILS. [DT TELEGBAPH.— ASSOCIATION.] CHKISTCHTJBCH. Monday. A case, in which a passenger who had been disappointed in not getting the berth he required proceeded against the Union Company for £11 8s 9d, was heard in the Magistrate's Court to-day. Counsel said the plaintiff bought three return saloon tickets from Lyttelton to Wellington. He went to Auckland, and because he was way longer than he anticipated, he paid an extra five drillings to have his ticket extended: He also paid a similar sum for a deck cabin, aid was claiming for half the cost of a ticket with £10 damages for breach of contract in that the company had not given him special saloon berthing accommodation. The plaintiff in hi 3 evidence said that instead .-of a deck cabin he had to accept accommodation in the hold. The defence contended that if the plain* tiff was not satisfied with the accommodation he was given he should have gone to the proper authorities. Had he done this he would have heen given the choice of six deck cabins. . He' was given a saloon berth although it was in what was known as "an omnibus cabin." <,The claim was I?id under Section 183 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, but as it was not lodged within the specified time the plaintiff i/as out of Court-. *" Thfl plaintiff was] non-suited on the ground that the claim had been made beyond the time allowed by the Act.