HOW THE TRAFFIC IS HANDLED 95 



shall be separately labelled), take them to the delivery- 

 vans according to the names on the blackboards. The 

 sight of a sturdy dock labourer, capable of big things in 

 the way of heavy loads, gravely walking along the plat- 

 form carrying in each hand a round-handled basket of 

 ' Grapes with care,' that would hardly test the physical 

 powers of a child, is not without its humorous side. In 

 any case, one sees that the railway people do take the 

 desired ' care,' and the impression I myself got, as I 

 watched the whole operation, was confirmed by the 

 representative of one of the wholesale agents, who, 

 before it was placed in the delivery-van, opened and 

 examined each of the 600 or so packages of grapes con- 

 signed to his firm on that particular day, and assured 

 me that ' for weeks together he found no cause for com- 

 plaint as to the condition of the fruit on arrival.' 



In order to economize time, the transfer from train to 

 van is begun at once, and continued without any delay 

 in checking the consignments by the way-bills. These 

 are taken direct to an adjoining office, where a staff of 

 clerks at once starts to make up the necessary papers 

 for the drivers, completing this part of the work by the 

 time the delivery- vans are ready. Well within an hour, 

 therefore, of the arrival of the ' fruit special,' on the 

 day of my visit to the Brighton Company's London 

 Bridge station, I saw the procession of vans leave to 

 deliver the contents of that * special ' to the agents in 

 the different markets. In this way, fruit, etc., gathered 

 fresh in the hot-houses along the Sussex coast in the 

 morning would be delivered to the London agents 

 between four and five o'clock the same afternoon, ready 

 for immediate sale, or for further consignment to 

 Dublin or Glasgow, where it should arrive the following 

 morning. 



It is, therefore, essentially a good service which the 



