LIMITATIONS OF BRITISH SUPPLIES i 



D 



low rate as the big foreign importations secure 

 by reason of their magnitude. 



In districts at a greater distance from towns or 

 cities combination is especially desirable in order 

 to secure the grouping of consignments into 

 larger quantities ; but here again the home 

 producer can hardly expect to place himself 

 on exactly the same footing as the foreigner, 

 until the supply of British-laid eggs assumes 

 larger proportions. Not long ago the National 

 Poultry Organization Society asked one of the 

 English railway companies to reduce its rates 

 for eggs from a certain agricultural district to 

 London. At that very time the company was 

 carrying through the district in question consign- 

 ments of foreign eggs representing from 25 to 50- 

 ton lots. But the company wanted to do what 

 it could for the local residents, seeing that in- 

 creased prosperity for the district meant increased 

 prosperity for the railway. So it replied (in 

 effect) : — " If you will only send us eggs in 4-ton 

 lots, as against the very much larger quantities 

 we receive from abroad, we will give you a rate 

 which will be 25 per cent, lower than we get as 

 our share of the through rate charged to the 

 foreigner.'' But the offer had to be declined 

 simply because the production of the whole 

 county would not have sufficed to make up a 



