286 History of Inland Transport 



railway company should afford proper facilities for receiving 

 and forwarding traffic ; that no undue or unreasonable pre- 

 ferences should be given ; and that where the systems were 

 continuous the companies should afford due and reasonable 

 facilities for the interchange of traffic, without undue pre- 

 ference or obstruction. In this way it was sought to bring 

 about greater co-ordination between the numerous small lines, 

 and secure a better provision for through traffic. The Act 

 is well described by the Select Committee of 1872 as "a 

 measure valuable in fact and most important in its scope and 

 intention." It may have been further anticipated that 

 companies which, as the result of the Act, secured running 

 powers or free interchange of traffic over the lines of other 

 companies and especially as regards lines having access to 

 London would be less ready to agree to absorption by them ; 

 but if this expectation were, indeed, entertained, it was not 

 realised. 



The companies, in fact, continued to develop their commercial 

 undertakings in accordance with what they regarded as com- 

 mercial principles, and the Joint Committee on the Amalgama- 

 tion of Railway Companies, 1872, taking a much broader view 

 of the situation than previous Committees had done, pointed 

 out how small had been the effect of the policy sought to be 

 enforced against the railways, since the combinations which 

 had enabled the great trunk lines to attain to the position they 

 occupied at that date had been effected " contemporaneously 

 with reports against large combinations," those reports having 

 had " little influence upon the action of Private Bill Com- 

 mittees," and not staying " the progress of the companies in 

 their course of union and amalgamation." The Committee 

 further said, on the subject of " districting " : 



" Among the various suggestions which naturally occur 

 when dealing with the question of amalgamation, one of the 

 most obvious and most important is to the effect that for the 

 future some endeavour should be made to compel railways 

 in amalgamating to follow certain fixed lines or principles. 

 . . . If at an earlier period in railway history such an attempt 

 had been successfully made, there is no doubt that it might 

 have provided us with a railway system, if not more efficient, 

 at any rate far less costly than that which we now possess. 

 But considering the policy, or want of policy, which has hitherto 



