"SLEEPERS" ON TRAINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17661, 23 December 1920, Page 8

"SLEEPERS" ON TRAINS.

METHOD OF BOOKING. A CANTERBURY COMPLAINT. [BT TELEGRAPH. OWN CORBESFONPENT. ] CHRISTCHURCH. Wednesday. An intending passenger to Auckland applied a fortnight ago for a ticket and sleeping berth on the Auckland express leaving Wellington on Christinas Day. He was informed that the ticket could not be issued until three days before the journey and that a sleeper could then be booked. He purchased his ticket at the Christchurch railway station at nine o'clock this morning, that being the earliest possible moment at which the Railway Department would issue the ticket. On applying for a sleeping berth, however/ he was told that there was no hope of securing one as the Tourist Department w ou ld have booked all that were available. The clerk accepted the. fee for a sleeper and also 2s for a reply paid telegram, but at the same time he stated that it was almost useless to telegraph. W. Stringleman, traffic manager at Christchurch, to whom the matter_ was referred, states that under the railwayregulations the ticket could not be issued earlier, and as a sleeping berth could not be given without the production of a ticket the system appeared to be anomalous, and he would go into it. The matter has been taken up by the Canterbury Progress League, and the:.organiser sent the following telegram to the General Manager of Railways :— " Much indignation here concerning the method of booking sleepers on the North Island Main Timnk railway. The regulations limit the sale of tickets to three days before departure and sleepers cannot be booked until tickets are purchased. Travellers purchasing their tickets to-day are now informed that sleeper? are all booked. Kindly give full explanation."