NOTES AND QUERIES. 319 



distances, the measurement loads not being " so convenient 

 traffic as most of the dressed pit-wood we send lor local consumpt. 

 This cheap pit-wood is very much affected by the cheap transit of 

 Norway pit-wood." 



As an instance of how railway companies work, a trader was 

 charged 26s. per ton for carriage on a quantity of timber, and on 

 it being pointed out that 17s. ild. was the legal rate, they agreed 

 to reduce it to 21s. The trader offered ITs. 5d., and after six 

 months' delay and annoyance it was eventually settled at 17s. 7d. 

 The same correspondent says : " Scotch traders in timber, no 

 doubt, give way too much to railway companies. If they would 

 bind themselves together and hold firm, no doubt they would 

 enforce their rates." 



A trader states that he is charged 2s. Id. per ton for carriage 

 of pit-wood from a seaport town to a certain colliery, while the 

 i*ate for foreign pit-wood is Is. lid. per ton. He also states, what 

 he considers a greater grievance, that he is charged 5s. per ton 

 to a certain station about forty miles distant, while to an inter- 

 mediate station on the same line, only thirty miles distant, he is 

 charged 5s. 5d. per ton for the same class of timber. 



In another case a rate for pit-wood was asked for a distance 

 under two miles, but where, for certain reasons, it could not be 

 delivered by cart, and the railway company at first offered a 

 rate of Is. lOd., and afterwards Is. 8d., which they stated "was 

 positively the lowest rate charged for any distance." Ultimately, 

 however, they made the rate Is. Gd., "considering that the 

 class of traffic would weigh well," the consigner and consignee to 

 load and unload the timber without assistance. The loads in 

 this case averaged seven tons. 



Another trader writes as follows: — "After pretty exhaustive 

 inquiries, I find that there is not much difference between the 

 rates charged on railways for foreign timber as compared with 

 home timber, neither is there much difference as to whether it is 

 coming from or going to the coast. There are a few anomalies, 

 such as the following: The rate from Glasgow to Dundee is 

 7s. 6d. per ton, while from Callander and Bonnybridge to Dundee 

 it is 8s. in either case, notwithstanding the fact that the distance 

 is much less. The same thing takes place all over. If you get 

 railway companies competing with water carriage the rates are 

 much lower, and the fact remains that where you have a large 

 quantity going from point to point, better rates can be got. 



