RESERVED SEATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19195, 8 December 1925, Page 10

RESERVED SEATS.

MINIMUM OF 100 MILES. PRIVACY OF A JUDGE. " DEPARTMENT'S PROPER COURSE A SPECIAL COMPARTMENT. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] j HAMILTON, Monday. That the Railway Department has no authority under its own by-laws to reservo a seat for a shorter distance than 100 miles was the decision of Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in the Hamilton Police Court to-day in the case against Harold Meade, commercial traveller, of Rotorua, who was charged with refusing to give up a seat in the limited express reserved for Mr. Justice Herdman, when requested Joy the guard to do so. The magistrate said he had gone fully into the matter because it was one that affected everyone who travelled by train. He considered a mistake had been made by the department, and the public had the right to know it. The railways in this country were run by the Government under statutory regulations and by-laws that provided a penalty against persons who refused to give up reserved seats. The by-laws further provided that if a train was over-crowded those who did not hold reserved seats or season tickets were to bo put off the train. In the case in dispute, said Mr. Wilson, Mr. Justice Herdman desired reserved accommodation, as no doubt he was rightly entitled to, in the train from Frankton to Auckland. It was ;?, proper thing that a Judge should have reserved accommodation in travelling. His work placed him apart from other persons. It was not a pleasant thing for a Judge to be placed in close contact with persons upon whom possibly he had passed sentence. That kind of thing happened with magistrates. It was undesirable that it should happen -with a Judge, who should have privacy when travelling. The Railway Department, however, did not have any statutory power enabling it to reserve a seat for less thaD 100 miles. The seat the department set apart in this case was occupied by a man who refused to give it up. Mr. Wilson said he did not think the Railway Department had any power to turn the man out and give the seat to a person who had no proper reservation. The department's proper action was to havo reserved a compartment for the Judge. The information was dismissed.