§ MR. W. HAZELL (Leicester)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the system under which some railway companies charge passengers for excess distance fares; is he aware that some companies charge only the difference between the sum already paid and the fare for the through journey, while other companies insist upon the full separate fare from the station to which the passenger is booked on to the end of his journey; and that this method of counting it as two separate contracts with the passenger often leads to a higher charge than the cost of a through ticket for the entire journey; and, if this system of charging is in harmony with the bye-laws, will he endeavour so to amend them as to prevent the charge being in any case higher than the through fare?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE,) CroydonI understand that it is the ordinary practice in cases where passengers travel beyond stations to which they are booked to charge the local fare for the portion of the journey not covered by the ticket; where the combined fares, however, are greater than the cost of a through ticket and an application is made accompanied by a reasonable explanation, some companies refund the difference between the higher and lower amounts. I do not think the terms of the bye-law unreasonable, but there appears to be a want of uniformity in the practice. The question of amending the bye-laws is a grave one and cannot be dealt with in regard to this bye-law only.