338 DO THE RAILWAYS HELP THE FARMERS? 



to concentrate the milk from specified districts 

 at suitable junction stations, and to carry it 

 thence at express speed. For the Wiltshire 

 dairies, for example, the milk for London from 

 the various stations in the district is focussed at 

 Swindon, whence it is taken in " milk trains ' ; 

 to London at the rate of about fifty miles an 

 hour, without any intermediate stop. At 

 Paddington there is a line with platform and 

 approach road set apart exclusively for the milk 

 traffic, and the whole arrangement works so 

 well that the company have carried 27,500,000 

 gallons of milk in a single year substantially 

 without complaint. 



Inasmuch as the allegation is constantly being 

 made that the railway charges unduly affect the 

 selling price of food products, it may be added 

 with regard to this question of the milk supply 

 that the dairy farmer in the West of England 

 gets about sixpence per gallon for his milk, and 

 the railway company will receive, on an average, 

 one penny per gallon for bringing it to London, 

 where, as sold to the ordinary householder, it 

 will probably fetch Is. 4>d. per gallon. If, there- 

 fore, the farmer gets too little, or the consumer 

 pays too much, for the milk, the fault can 

 hardly be attributed to the railway. When on 

 one occasion the Great Western Railway 



