CAUSES OF DELAY 227 



regain the London trade and oust the foreign growers' produce 

 almost everywhere if they will wisely combine to send large regular 

 lots as foreign producers have done. 



Dealing with the complaints made by traders of the 

 delays in the delivery of fruit, causing serious loss 

 owing to the consignments arriving too late for the 

 early morning markets, the ' Guide ' says : 



This late arrival is sometimes the fault of the railway or the 

 weather, but very often it results from the growing desire to keep 

 fruit in the packing-sheds till the last possible moment. That 

 causes some growers to delay till too late for the connecting trains. 



If a wet morning comes, later picking results in later delivery to 

 the station. A wet day results in excessive quantities being rushed 

 to the station during the following fine days, when the extra 

 waggons suddenly needed cannot always be available, as nearly all 

 stations in the fruit districts are simultaneously placed under that 

 strain. 



If it is a very hot day, growers delay despatch to the station as 

 long as possible, and congestion results. 



During the 1904 season it became quite a common thing for 

 about loo horse-loads of fruit to arrive at one station when the 

 gates should have been closed for the night. The station agents 

 being anxious to oblige and encourage trade, strove their utmost to 

 accomplish the then impossible task of getting all the fruit loaded 

 in time to get the trains away punctually. This was the case not 

 only at the particular station, but all along the line, with the 

 inevitable result that the trains frequently arrived hours too late at 

 the junction, and missed connecting trains for the North. . . . 



The obvious remedy in the interest of the growers generally is 

 for the railway companies to insist upon their gates being closed in 

 sufficient time for the fruit to be efficiently loaded and the waggons 

 ready for the punctual despatch of the trains. Then only can 

 regular running to destinations be insured. . . . 



Laggards who were shut out would be immediately faced with 

 the fact that they had lost their market, and learn a wholesome 

 lesson, whilst they would be prevented from inflicting injury upon 

 their more punctual, considerate, and deserving competitors. 



The fruit-growers' associations could not confer a greater 

 benefit upon their members than by thus wisely co-operating with 

 the railway companies to insure fruit being loaded in time for 

 prompt despatch by each train. 



In this connection I may say that in London another 

 serious cause of delay is the detention of the delivery 



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