Railway Rates and Charges 351 



(e) Competition, direct or indirect, by water, by road or by 

 other means. 



(/) Special requirements of shipping traffic to or from ports. 



(g) The creation of traffic by enabling new or increased 

 business to be done. 



(h) A general consideration of what the traffic will bear. 



The following examples illustrate the actual difference 

 between the class rates and the special rates at which the 

 traffic is actually carried : 



Yet another characteristic of English railway rates is their 

 division into "company's risk" rates and "owner's risk" 

 rates, the latter being a lower scale on which consignments 

 are carried provided the trader signs either a general in- 

 demnity for the whole of his traffic or a separate owner's 

 risk consignment note on the occasion of each despatch 

 relieving the railway from " all liability for loss, damage, mis- 

 delivery, delay or detention, except upon proof that such loss, 

 damage, misdelivery, delay or detention arose from wilful 

 misconduct on the part of the company's servants." 



The difficulty of proving such " wilful misconduct " in 

 case of damage or loss has long been a grievance with traders 

 consigning under " owner's risk " rates, and vigorous efforts 

 have been made by them, or on their behalf, from time to time 

 to obtain a modification of these conditions. 



The railway point of view in regard to this vexed question 

 was thus expressed by Mr F. Potter, in an address on " The 



