2320

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

No. 58

2. Such luggage will thereafter be held and conveyed at the risk of the Department (or of the shipping company or of the Wellington Harbour Board, as the case may be).

3. Each package must be in good order and be distinctly addressed with the name of the passenger and the station to which he is proceeding. All old labels must first have been removed, each package locked or otherwise properly secured, and the person delivering it must obtain a check for each package delivered. The Department reserves the right to decline to check any package of luggage that is not fully and legibly addressed, locked, or properly secured, and from which old labels have not been removed or which is not in good order. Trunks, suit-cases, bags, and other luggage containers must be such as, in the opinion of the Department, will enable the packages to withstand the ordinary incidents of transport without sustaining damage. The Department reserves the right to decline to accept for transport as luggage any package which does not meet this requirement.

4. Luggage to be checked may, if being forwarded from an officered station, be delivered at the station from which the passenger will travel not more than fourteen days before the date on which the passenger will travel, and (without prejudice to the provisions regarding excess luggage) must be delivered at such station at least fifteen minutes before the due time of departure of the train by which it is to be conveyed.

5. Luggage from stations at which there are no Stationmasters in charge, which the owners desire to check, must be taken to the guard’s van, and be there handed to the guard of the train. The person delivering the luggage must obtain a check for each package so delivered.

6. Charges on excess luggage which has been checked from a flag station must be paid to the guard, who will issue a ticket for the amount received.

7. The checks obtained for the luggage must be surrendered by the person who takes delivery of the luggage at destination.

8. Except as hereinafter provided, no package of checked luggage will be delivered until the check has been surrendered. The Department will not be responsible for any loss or inconvenience that may arise through the failure of the passenger or his agent to produce the necessary check.

9. Passengers are not bound to see personally to the checking or excessing of their luggage, or to attend in person to obtain delivery of their luggage, but may arrange for any person, other than a railway employee, to act on their behalf; the Department, however, reserves to itself the right to demand the production of the passenger’s railway ticket whenever it may deem such a step to be necessary, and to decline to accept any luggage for transit until such demand has been complied with.

10. Any person losing a luggage-check may be required to make a statutory declaration setting forth the number of the check lost, the number and description of the packages claimed, to indemnify the Department against loss for wrong delivery, and to furnish such other proofs of ownership of luggage as the Department may require, before such luggage shall be delivered. Should the proofs of ownership or the indemnity be deemed by the Department to be insufficient, delivery of the luggage will be withheld, and the Department shall not be liable for any inconvenience or loss suffered in consequence thereof. A search fee of 6d. will be made in respect of each check lost.

11. For each check issued for luggage to be conveyed on a continuous journey on one section of railway the charge will be 6d.

12. For each check issued for luggage to be conveyed by railway and ship between points in the North and South Islands, or vice versa, the charge, including cartage between rail and steamer at Wellington, will be 1s.

13. Fruit, groceries, cardboard boxes, or merchandise of any description (other than bona fide samples) are not regarded by the shipping company as passengers’ luggage and cannot be checked through between the North and South Islands.

14. Checked luggage not claimed within three months after arrival at destination may be sold.

15. In respect of the sea journey in the case of luggage checked for journeys between the North and South Islands the Department acts only as agent for the shipping company.

16. Packages of checked luggage are hereby declared to be “special goods.” The liability of the Department in respect thereto is limited to £10 for any one package unless the passenger before despatching such luggage declares the nature and value of and obtains a receipt for the same. On “special goods” so declared a charge of 2 per cent. on the declared value will be made for insuring the same. Packages exceeding £500 in value will be carried by special contract only.

17. Checked luggage for officered stations not claimed on arrival at destination will be placed in the cloak-room and will be stored free for one month from date of arrival at destination. After the expiry of that period storage will be charged for at the rate of 1s. per week or part of a week for each package. Checked luggage for flag stations not claimed while the train is standing at the station will be taken to the next officered station and treated as lost luggage, and be charged for accordingly.

18. Excess Luggage.

19. Except as otherwise provided, passengers will be allowed to take with them, free of charge, 112 lb. weight each (children travelling on half-tickets, 56 lb.) consisting either of their own bona fide personal luggage, tourists’, sportsmen’s, or artists’ gear, or any goods (except furniture, kerosene, house-fittings, live poultry, liquor, tents, poles, bedding, camp stretchers, oil-stoves, and bulky musical instruments) which they may purchase bona fide for their own domestic use: Provided, however, that the Department shall have the right to determine in any case whether any package or article (other than bona fide personal luggage) may be carried free as luggage under the provisions of this paragraph.

20. Workpeople travelling in search of employment or travelling between their homes and places of employment will be allowed to take free of charge (in addition to 112 lb. of bona fide personal luggage) up to 112 lb. weight of work-tools, or work which they do at their homes. When the weight exceeds 112 lb. the weight in excess of 112 lb. will be charged for at the ordinary excess-luggage rates. The Department reserves to itself the right to define the articles which may be accepted and conveyed under this regulation.