World’s Greatest Optimist

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 22

World’s Greatest Optimist

Indian Taxi-Driver Waits 5 Days for Missing Fare . . . Engine Running All the Time ! SHE Bombay police recently took into custody Sved Abdul Hafiz, a taxiHis cab was engaged on a Friday' morning by a European who arrived by the P, and O. liner Naldera, en route for Australia. The passenger drove round the city in Syed’s cab, returning a feW minutes before the Naldera was due to sail.

He said he had not enough money in his pocket to pay his fare, hurried up the gangway after taking the driver’s number, and promised to send the money down. *

Syed waited patiently, but before the money was forthcoming the Naldera sailed. Syed, undismayed, told his friends that the sahib would return sooner or later and accordingly kept the taximeter running the remainder of the day and all night, and proclaimed his determination to keep it running till the Naldera returned, although he was told this would be weeks.

He ate, drank, and slept in the ear *nd adopted a threatening attitude toward people who advised him to go away. There is a time limit to the period a cab can wait on the quay, but Syed argued with the police that he was still waiting for his fare. On the S_aturday the police, discovering his licence had expired, served him with a summons. He ignored it, aud was arrested on the Wednesday following. The taxi-cab was also taken to the police station, with the meter still running. It showed that IS4 rupees (£l3 16s) w-as owing, compared with 10 rupees (15s) on the Friday.

If Syed is proved to be sane he will be brought before" the magistrate on a charge of driving without a licence.