§ MR. MORTON (Peterborough)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that a gentleman was in 1889 sentenced at the Strangeways Police Court to 14 days' imprisonment, with hard labour, for using the return half of a railway ticket on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, three days after issue; and as the Railway Companies are not obliged by statute to issue return tickets, will he explain on what grounds has the Board of Trade sanctioned bye-laws whereby a breach of a civil contract is made a criminal offence?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHMy attention has not been called to the case to which the hon. Member refers, and I therefore do not know whether the proceedings were taken under bye-laws sanctioned by the Board of Trade. From the question, it would seem possible that there may have been an attempt to defraud. I may refer the hon. Member to Section 5 of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1889, which provides a penalty for avoiding payment of fare.