360 DO THE RAILWAYS HELP THE FARMERS? 



public ; that is to say, I would fain impress upon 

 them the fact that when complaints are made 

 to railway companies by representatives of the 

 agricultural interest they are investigated with a 

 thoroughness of which few persons outside the 

 general offices of a railway company can have 

 any conception. But this chapter has already 

 gone to such length that I must now content 

 myself with a single " case in point." 



A few years ago loud and persistent com- 

 plaints were made by private firms and com- 

 panies in Ireland of the unsatisfactory condition 

 in which consignments of butter sent to England 

 were reaching their destination, as compared 

 with the Danish supplies, although the latter 

 travelled a much greater distance ; and the blame 

 was alleged to be attributable to defective 

 railway arrangements. With a view not only 

 to investigating these complaints, but also 

 to ascertaining if any improvement could be 

 brought about by an adoption of Danish 

 methods, the London and North Western 

 Railway Company (which was then bringing 

 some 5,000 tons of Irish butter per annum to 

 England via Dublin Wall) appointed a deputa- 

 tion of its officials to visit Denmark for the 

 purpose of making an inquiry as to the con- 

 ditions under which the Danish product was 



