33 8 History of Inland Transport 



well-defined general principles, based on the needs of the 

 country as a whole, great uncertainty existed as to the rates 

 and charges to be paid. There were then no fewer than 900 

 Acts of Parliament which dealt with the charging powers of 

 976 past or present railway companies, while the only uniform 

 classification was that of the Railway Clearing House, which 

 had almost entirely superseded the primitive classification in 

 the railway companies' Acts but had not yet received legal 

 sanction. 



A recommendation to the effect " that one uniform classifi- 

 cation be adopted over the whole railway system " had been 

 made by a House of Commons Select Committee in 1882. 

 They considered that the adoption of this course was necessary 

 in view of the imperfection and want of uniformity in the 

 special Act classifications and charges, in which they had 

 failed to discover any general principle. " In some cases," 

 they said, " reference must be had to more than fifty Acts 

 to determine the various rates the company is authorised to 

 charge." 



The position in regard to a new and uniform classification 

 thus so persistently recommended was, however, complicated 

 by the fact that the adoption thereof would involve new 

 maximum rates, since the rates charged for the commodities 

 carried naturally depended on the particular " class " to 

 which those commodities had been allotted. Hence when, 

 by the Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1888, provision was 

 at last made for a revised and uniform classification, each 

 railway company was further required to submit to the Board 

 of Trade, within a period of six months, revised schedules of 

 maximum rates, with a view to these ultimately after 

 approval by Parliament taking the place of the schedules 

 in the existing special Acts. The new scales were, also, to 

 include fixed maxima for " station terminals " and " service 

 terminals," the controversy in regard to which, as already 

 spoken of, was thus to be definitely settled. 



The railway companies complied with these requirements, 

 the revised classification and schedules of maximum rates 

 being sent in by March, 1889, to the Board of Trade, which 

 appointed two special Commissioners, Lord Balfour of Bur- 

 leigh and Mr (afterwards Sir) Courtenay Boyle, to hold an 

 inquiry into them on its behalf. The traders were invited to 



