Railway Rates and Charges 339 



send in any criticisms they might wish to offer to the com- 

 panies' proposals, and by June 3rd no fewer than 4000 ob- 

 jections had been received from over 1500 individuals or 

 trading associations. 



By this time the formidable nature of the work that had 

 been undertaken began to be more fully appreciated. Not 

 only were there the 900 Railway Acts dealing with rates and 

 charges, but there were about 18,000 railway stations and 

 some 40,000 pairs of stations between which business was 

 actually transacted in regard to one or more of the 2500 

 articles that, by this time, were included in the Clearing House 

 classification. As for the rates in force, we have the statement 

 of Sir Henry Oakley that on the Great Northern Railway alone 

 they numbered 13,000,000, while Sir Richard Moon estimated 

 that on the London and North- Western Railway the total 

 at this period was no fewer than 20,000,000. 



The task thus imposed by Parliament on the Board of Trade 

 in the revision of rates whose total number seemed almost as 

 countless as the stars themselves was, indeed, of stupendous 

 magnitude, apart altogether from the very heavy labours 

 devolving upon each individual company in the preparation 

 of schedules for its own particular lines. The task itself 

 was, however, rendered still more difficult by the fact that, as 

 pointed out by Mr Temple Franks * 



" No principles of revision had been laid down for guid- 

 ance. The Commissioners were not told to regard either 

 the existing statutory maxima or the actual rates then 

 charged. Amendments to this effect had been rejected in 

 Parliament. The Commissioners, therefore, held that the 

 Legislature contemplated a departure from existing maxima, 

 and that it is equitable ' to make a reduction in their present 

 powers and fix rates based to a great extent on existing rates, 

 but with a reasonable margin of profit for possible changes of 

 circumstances injuriously affecting the cost of or return from 

 the carriage of merchandise by railway.' In determining, 

 however, the principles upon which the future maxima were 

 to be governed, they refused to accept the proposition that 

 they shall cover all existing rates and non-competitive charges." 



1 Lectures on the "History of Traffic Legislation and Parliamentary 

 Action in Connection with Railways," delivered at the London School of 

 Economics. See " The Railway News," November 30, 1907. 



