212 TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 



on a busy night would represent two consignments 

 only, one for each firm. In actual practice, as soon as 

 the collectors employed by the carriers arrive at Heath- 

 field station with the crates they have obtained from 

 the farms, or picked up from the wayside where they 

 have been left for them, the various lots are sorted out 

 according to the names of the dealers in London to 

 whom they are consigned, and are so loaded into the 

 vans as to facilitate the work of delivery on arrival in 

 London. While requiring the various lots grouped 

 by one firm to be consigned in the name of that firm, 

 the railway company will deliver to as many separate 

 addresses as may be desired. When the London agents 

 have disposed of the chickens sent to them they deduct 

 from the proceeds, not only their own commission, but 

 also about one penny a bird for carriage, this sum being 

 remitted by them to the carrying firms, to cover both 

 cost of collection and the railway charges. The balance 

 is forwarded to the fatter, who generally receives his 

 cheque in the course of three or four days. 



One result of this arrangement is that the chicken- 

 fatters save from 50 to 75 per cent, in railway rates, 

 while the railway company, in turn, benefit from having 

 the traffic more concentrated, and being enabled to 

 handle it with less trouble and to greater advantage. The 

 rates charged for carriage from Heathfield to London, 

 including delivery, range from 2s. for a single cwt. to 

 is. per cwt. for i-ton lots, so that if a fatter consigns 

 even a single cwt. through the carriers as part of a big 

 load, instead of sending in his own name, he still gets 

 the benefit of the lowest rates, and is on the same level 

 in respect to railway charges as the fatter who might 

 be able to despatch a i-ton consignment independently 

 of the carriers. Then, the individual fatter is enabled 

 to distribute his crates of chickens among the different 



