TRANSPORT QUESTIONS 151 



to make up this minimum the saving effected would work 

 out thus : — 



Total Cost. Cost Per Sender. 

 £ s. d. s. d. 



8 consignments in separate ^-ton 



lots . . . . . . . . 1 16 8 4 7 



8 consignments in one 4-ton lot . . 150 3 i£ 



Saving 11 8 * 5h 



The average weekly payments per grower for rail transport 

 came to £1, and the average annual saving per grower made 

 possible by the figures just given would have been £iy. 

 Multiplying this by 90, the number of members in the society, 

 it will be seen that the total saving per annum that might 

 have been effected by them in railway rates, by means of 

 combination, and without their asking for any further con- 

 cessions, was no less than £1,530. 



The following further example of possible savings in the 

 same direction has been thus recorded by one of the 

 organisers of the Agricultural Organisation Society : — 



As the result of an arrangement between the Cambridgeshire 

 County Council and the A. 0. S., I paid a series of visits to that 

 county in the spring of 1911. The first place I visited was 

 Cottenham, where I found that the small holders were at a great 

 disadvantage in matters of transport. They were consigning — 

 mostly vegetables — at a rate of 15s. per ton to London, for small 

 quantities, and at one of 26s. 6d. per ton to Manchester. I 

 pointed out to them that there were special rates of 7s. id. per 

 ton to London and 15s. 5^. per ton to Manchester, which would 

 enable them to effect a material saving if only they adopted the 

 principle of co-operation and grouped their consignments into 

 the stipulated quantities. They acted on my suggestion, a whole 

 season's produce has since been despatched from Cottenham at 

 the lower rates, and the small holders have expressed the warmest 

 thanks for having the matter brought to their notice. 



Thus the Agricultural Organisation Society has often 

 succeeded where the railway companies themselves had 

 previously failed in bringing about the combination needed 

 for taking advantage of lower rates already on the companies' 

 books ; and this result may be attributed mainly to (1) the 

 distrust with which the naturally suspicious mind of the 



