216 RAILWAY RATES AND CONDITIONS 



suggestion of assistance : the trader drops the matter, pre- 

 ferring to endure his grievances rather than to incur the heavy 

 legal costs which a law case would involve. In its annual 

 report to Parliament such cases figure as instances in which 

 the traders are apparently satisfied with the Board's inter- 

 vention. 



The Board of Trade may take a case into Court itself, if 

 they think that a railway company is acting illegally. They 

 have, however, never used this power. On the contrary, 

 when asked by Mr. Barnston, M.P., to do so,* the President 

 of the Board of Trade (Mr. S. Buxton) evaded the question. 

 Further, when the question of preferential rates was being 

 considered by the Departmental Committee in 1906, Sir 

 Herbert Jekyll said (Q. 3134, Cd. 2960) : 



" What the Board of Trade understand by preferential treat- 

 ment is the treatment which is expressly prohibited by Sec. 27 

 of the Act of 1888 ; therefore preferential treatment of that 

 description is a breach of the law which can only be dealt with 

 by a Court of Law, and cannot be dealt with here. All that we 

 can do under Sec. 31 here is conciliation in which points of law 

 are not involved." 



This was quite alien to the point upon which the witness 

 was being examined. The Conciliation Clause was not under 

 discussion, preferential rates were ; yet the Board of Trade 

 representative dragged in the former, ignoring the fact that 

 the Board of Trade could take a case into court if they wished 

 to do so.f 



In spite of the close combination known to exist among 

 railway representatives, there has been comparatively little 

 counteracting cohesion on the part of the traders. The only 

 recognised body is the Mansion House Association on Railway 

 and Canal Traffic, which has done some excellent work. 

 There are also Chambers of Commerce as well as Chambers of 

 Agriculture ; but these are by no means homogeneous bodies 

 on this question, any more than are the individual members 

 of any other industry. Thus, the market gardener in Middlesex 



* 15th July, 1913. 



f The Board of Trade are empowered by Sec. 17 of the Act of 1844 

 and Sec. 6 of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1873, to take legal action. 



