The crucial question of when a passenger is justified in
not paying his tram (or 'bus) fare is getting a little muddled in the Courts. First Sir Rollo Graham Campbell ruled 'against the London Passenger Transport Board, and in favour- of a lady passenger who did not pay her fare because she was never asked for it ; another magis-' trate convicted in very similar circumstances ; and now another has done' the same, with the difference that in this case the conductor had made the general and familiar demand "All fares, please." As the first case may go to appeal., we may get a little more illumination- on the Matter yet. 'Some people, of course, avoid paying fares through inadvertence, some by design. And the odd
thing about the- latter is that out of a dozen who would
take secret satisfaction in going beyond their fare-stage without paying the extra penny, not one, probably, would dream of pilfering a penny bun off a baker's counter. A stern morality forbids us. to steal articles,, but nothing but the fear of the law deters us (some of us- at any rate) from stealing services. Yet a pennyworth• of transport is a pennyworth of value just as much as a pennyworth. of bun. The respectable people who smuggle cheerfully at Dover and Newhaven, usually. without getting found out, are another problem again.
Previous page
