The Westminster Gazette of Monday published a very interesting and
powerful plea by a railway expert for a reduction in long-distance railway fares. At present the fares are practically killing voluntary travel for long distances. It is cheaper for Londoners to go abroad than to go to Scotland. AstheWestminsterGazette suggests, the principle of making a reduction to a customer who buys a large quantity of goods might be also applied to railway traffic. The companies are alarmed at the decrease in their principal source of revenue, yet alarm has not brought them courage. It might be beneficial if they would all re-read the experiences of Rowland Hill. Hill did not say "The State will obviously lose more than ever if it introduces penny postage since it is losing terribly even now when the charges arc very high." He said rather, "The State is losing simply because the charges are high." There is not much time to lose. The motor habit is growing. The companies cannot buy out the roads as they bought out the canals.
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