54 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



put to great trouble before he can ascertain from the railway 

 companies the rates that are in force in the different localities. 



On the motion of Mr Springall, seconded by Mr Elwes, the 

 following resolution was thereafter adopted : — " That in the 

 opinion of this Conference, representing growers, agents, 

 merchants, and others interested in the production, sale, 

 distribution, and conversion of native timber, it is desirable, with 

 a view to the encouragement of native industries, that the rates 

 and arrangements applicable to the carriage of timber by rail 

 should be the same for native as for foreign timber (following 

 the Canal Acts) ; and that the Associated Railway Companies 

 should be urged to remove the existing anomalies : that the 

 Royal (English) Arboricultural Society and the English Section 

 of the Timber Trade Federation should be recommended, jointly 

 and separately, to take steps with this object in view : that copies 

 of this resolution be sent to the Associated Railway Companies, 

 to the Board of Trade, and the Board of Agriculture ; and that 

 the latter department be approached with a view to promoting 

 legislation to amend the existing Acts of Parliament." 



" Extraordinary Traffic " was the subject of a paper read by 

 Mr Ernest Charles, barrister-at-law. All are agreed that the 

 law on this subject, which is applicable both in Scotland and in 

 England, often bears very harshly on both landowners and 

 timber merchants. The different district authorities apply 

 various interpretations to the Act of Parliament, with the 

 consequence that buyers of timber have to be very chary of 

 offering a reasonable price for large quantities, by reason of the 

 risk that after the wood has been removed the district authority 

 may step in and make a claim against him of several hundreds 

 of pounds for extraordinary traffic. Some people are under the 

 impression that it is only when traction engines are employed 

 for haulage purposes that a claim of this description can be set 

 up : but this is by no means the case, as only recently the writer 

 knew of a claim made against a timber merchant for extra- 

 ordinary traffic although the haulage was all done by horses, 

 and the weight of the loads rarely exceeded one. ton. If the 

 afforestation of large areas of waste land in Scotland and 

 England is ever to become an accomplished fact, then it must 

 be seen to that this obnoxious Act is either amended or expunged 

 from the Statute Book. 



Mr Charles said : " Extraordinary traffic — according to the 



