COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES 223 



the evidence given before the two Departmental Com- 

 mittees and from the altered tone of public opinion 

 in general especially during the last year or two is 

 that the bogey of ' excessive ' railway rates on agri- 

 cultural produce is dead, and that the bogey of ' undue 

 preference ' is dying. But two other grievances I 

 have found still flourishing with a certain amount of 

 vigour. 



i. In the opinion of various growers, both of fruit 

 and of vegetables, railway companies ought to reduce 

 their rates (however reasonable these may be thought, 

 under normal conditions) whenever there is a serious 

 reduction in market prices the result either of a home 

 glut or of foreign competition so that the waste that 

 occurs when the produce has to be left on the ground 

 may be avoided. 



Everybody must sympathize with the growers who 

 find themselves in the position here indicated ; but are 

 they sure that the remedy suggested is alike desirable, 

 reasonable, and workable ? 



To reduce the rates because of a glut on the market 

 would lead to that glut becoming still greater. The 

 growers might get rid of their stuff, at a price, but what 

 would the dealers say ? 



To reduce the rates, perhaps to a non -remunerative 

 quantity, because of foreign competition, would be to 

 throw upon the railway companies the responsibility 

 of overcoming the commercial drawbacks of free 

 imports. 



To reduce the rates temporarily, in order to meet a 

 particular situation, would, in itself, be an easy matter ; 

 but what would happen when that situation had passed 

 away, and the railway companies wished to restore the 

 rates to their original level ? 



Such restoration would count as an ' increase ' of 



