Reserving Seats In Railway Carriages.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1788, 29 January 1886, Page 3

Reserving Seats In Railway Carriages.

Says tbe Timarn Herald :la a passenger legally entitled to reserve his seat in a railway carriage in the customary manner, by placing his hat or rug on it during bis temporary aleence ? Tbit is a question of some importance, which was settled ia a very summary manner by a guard at the Dunedin railway station the other day. Tbe train appeared to be c'owded, and he was appealed to for another first-elasa carriage. Tbe guard, however, declared that there " was any amount 0/ room," and pointed to a number of bats, coats, rugs, etc., each acting as locum tenens (or its respective owner. A suggestion that these seats were engaged at once brought from the energetic official an emphatic refusal to recognise any such customary right. Te put his ideas into practical effect, be commenced right and left to remove these impedimenta on to the floor. Tbe result was, of course, and iadignant protest from wives awaiting abaent husbands who were “ seeing after the Inggage." and from husbands patiently biding their time until the last word should have been spoken by their wives to dear ladr friends on the platform. One passenger was so aghast at the daring of tbe official as be was proceeding to bundle & bandbox, an rMer. and a handbag off the seat, that he could only gasp out frantically, “ That—that’s a lady 1” The guard, however, was impertubable. He oaly replied, “ 1 beg your pardon, sir, it doesn’t look like one f" and down went the lady’s effects on to the floor, while the unhappy husband looked as if volumes cull in’t express what the lady would be likely to say when she returned.