THE REVISED RAILWAY RATES. T HE issue of the Board of
Trade Provisional Orders for the London and North-Western and Great Western systems, enables us for the first time to form some estimate of the precise benefit which traders are likely to derive from the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. Last year the different Companies submitted the revised classifi- cation of their goods traffic, and the schedules of maximum rates for the various classes of goods which they proposed to charge. Had these proposals been adopted as they stood, they would have been of no small advantage, as enabling traders for the first time to see at a glance what they were legally liable to pay, a thing at present very difficult to ascertain. But the Act went further, and empowered traders to take objection to the proposals of the Com- panies, and, failing agreement, to submit their differences to the arbitration of the Board of Trade. This was accordingly done, and during the whole of the autumn and winter, Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Mr. Courtney Boyle, representing the Board of Trade, were occupied in hearing the respective cases of the traders and the Com- panies. They have now delivered their decision, which, though far from granting all the traders asked, has largely modified the proposals of the Companies in their favour. " Terminals," or extra charges for station accommoda- tion, and for loading and unloading, have not been abolished ; but they can no longer be imposed, as formerly, when the trader provides his own station, or loads and unloads by his own servants. The Companies are further virtually obliged to allow traders to load and unload for themselves, where it can be done without confusing and dislocating the service. Within their own sheds and buildings, and at great centres, it would obviously be im- possible to admit crowds of traders each caring only for his own goods, and the work must necessarily be left in the hands of the Companies' servants. Again, for charging purposes, the Companies proposed to divide all goods and merchandise into five great classes ; these the Board of Trade has increased to eight, and has added largely to the list of articles in the lower classes, pro- portionately decreasing those in higher, and lessening the amounts which the Companies are entitled to charge. Indeed, the maximum rates have in many instances not only been cut down below what was proposed, but even below the rates now actually in force. The difference between the two is very great. The maximum rate is the utmost the Companies are entitled to charge ; the actual rate frequently much less, according to their judgment of what the traffic will best bear. Special rates are also to be quoted for whole train-loads and truck-loads; and, on the other hand, for parcels under 3 cwt., technically known as " smalls," they are no longer to charge double the ordinary rate, as was often the case, but are limited to a supple- mentary rate of from 6d. to 2s. per ton. This, it need hardly be said, will be an immense boon to small retail dealers. On the other hand, some of the Companies who depend mainly on this class of traffic will be hard hit by it,. unless, as is very likely, they are more than compensated by the consequent increase of traffic. One change more : for the future the Companies are to be under an obliga- tion to provide reasonable facilities for the conveyance of perishables, including milk, butter, eggs, meat, fish and fruit, &c., by passenger train, " or other similar service." These are among the chief modifications which, in the opinion of the Board of Trade, ought to be made in the proposals of the Companies. The great question now is Must the battle be fought all over again next year before the Parliamentary Committees? The decision rests with the Companies. If they accept the suggestions of the Board of Trade, the revised schemes may at once be passed into law without more ado. Should they refuse, however, the Board is to report the revised proposals to Parliament as• being those which, in its opinion, ought to be adopted, and in the next Session after the Report has been presented, a Bill is to be promoted to give effect to it. This would give the Companies an opportunity of appealing to a Select Committee or a Joint Committee of both Houses. But such a tribunal would not be likely to prove more favour- able to them than the Board of Trade ; it might even be less so ; and they will therefore be well advised to adopt the more conciliatory course. After all, it is not unlikely that the Companies may find these enforced concessions a blessing in disguise, and pro- ductive of increased returns. This would seem to be the lesson of the remarkable experiment, known as the zone system, which has been in force in Hungary since last August. There, the whole country has been partitioned into fourteen zones, and uniform low fares are charged to all points within a given zone, whether the actual distance be long or short. The reduction of fares has been such that it is now possible to travel from one end of Hungary to the other for four florins. Yet, far from falling off, the passenger traffic receipts have increased 25 per cent. Austria has not been able to introduce the zone system, because all the railways do not belong to the State ; but on those which do, she has taken the lesson to reduce her passenger fares by 50 per cent. Evidently we have not yet fully solved the problem of making the most of our railways. The zone system is even better suited to goods than to passenger traffic. By virtually abolishing inequalities of distance, and affording farmers access to. the great markets on fairly equal terms, it would have a wonderfully stimulating influence on what is known as la petite culture in outlying districts. The uniform penny- postage is but one instance of the successful application of the same principle, and another is to be found in the con- ditions on which some of the Companies convey milk to the Metropolis.
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