POSITION IN KENT AND SCOTLAND 49 



FRUIT CARRIED ON SOUTH-EASTERN AND CHATHAM 

 RAILWAY IN THE YEAR IQOI. 



ENGLISH FRUIT : Tons. 



By passenger train to London ... ... 4,368 



By goods train to London ... ... 31,779 



By passenger train via London, etc. ... 4,33 1 



By goods train via London, etc. ... 3,079 



Total English fruit ... ... 43,537 



CONTINENTAL FRUIT : 



Carried via Boulogne and Calais ... 6,952 



Total English and Continental fruit ... 50,489 



The quantities going via London are transferred to 

 other companies for direct delivery to various Northern 

 towns, and Mr. Berry said of this particular service : 

 * I want nothing better than the way in which a portion 

 of our business is dealt with. It is a very high price, 

 but it is splendidly manipulated I mean the fast fruit 

 traffic to the North of England.' It need hardly be 

 said that the development of this traffic, by means of 

 which the risks of congestion on the London markets 

 are lessened, is essentially a step in the right direction. 



Another noticeable point in the figures is the small 

 proportion of foreign fruit carried on the South-Eastern 

 and Chatham system as compared with the English, 

 while even this small proportion would include consider- 

 able quantities of foreign fruit imported before the home- 

 grown supplies were ready and then falling off. 



In Scotland the principal fruit-producing district is 

 the Clyde Valley, which is now, as the Departmental 

 Committee were informed, ' nearly altogether orchards, 

 strawberries, gooseberries, or fruit on trees.' About 

 1,000 acres are devoted to apples, plums, etc. (goose- 

 berries and raspberries being grown under the trees), 

 and between 2,000 and 3,000 to strawberries. Many 

 of the growers are workmen who have secured an acre 



4 



