132 



REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



which is destined for the British market being first warehoused by 

 local merchants or by representatives of British firms. Accordingly 

 these warehousemen arrange with the steamship lines, of which 

 there are six, for rates combining freight by sea and railway carriage 

 to points in Great Britain. 



The statement that the Danish railways do not offer other than 

 inland rates, however, requires two qualifications. There are, in 

 point of fact, through rates for bacon from Odense and possibly 

 from other places ; and the Danish Government subsidises the 

 Union Steamship Company to the extent of £20,000 per annum. 

 This State aid is held to be warranted by the running of three 

 boats a week instead of two on the Esbjerg Harwich route, the third 

 boat, and, indeed, all of the boats going without full cargo. What 

 is secured by the subsidy is a market advantage in the shape of a 

 quicker delivery of goods. As Denmark is competing in butter 

 with Canada, the effect of the subsidy is very real, though it cannot 

 strictly be called the equivalent of a bounty or preferential rate. 



Danish produce for Scotland is mostly shipped from Copenhagen. 



The following rates are in force : — 



Butter from Copenhagen via Leith. 



To Edinburgh 

 „ Dumfries . 

 ,, Dundee . 

 „ Belfast 

 „ Ardrossan 

 „ Glasgow . 



Eggs from Copenhagen via Leith. 



s. d. 



It has to be observed that the ton weight includes in the case 

 of butter, 300 lbs. of packing material, and in the case of eggs, 

 440 lbs. The value of a net ton of eggs may be taken at £43 and 

 of butter at £100. As nearly as can be computed the cost of 

 carriage of these commodities from Copenhagen to any one of the 

 chief cities of Scotland is one farthing per lb. 



The pitch of efficiency to which the Danes have raised the 

 science of marketing is well illustrated by the Wholesale Butter 

 Quotation Committee of Copenhagen. Consisting of eight members 

 representative of the various butter interests, with the Chairman, 



