THE RURAL PROBLEM 95 



up its sleeve for special occasions. In England it is 

 practically impossible to find out what the rates are. 

 The average station master simply does not know. In 

 giving evidence on behalf of the Great Western Railway 

 before the Agricultural Commission in 1905 Mr. Hennell, 

 assistant goods manager, was asked, " On what terms could 

 a single farmer put three tons of hay on a truck to Birming- 

 ham ? " He answered, " You will understand that I cannot 

 answer that, as I have not read all the 30,000,000 rates our 

 Company have got." Before the same Commission witness 

 after witness representing agriculture complained that 

 farmers could neither understand nor even in many cases 

 ascertain the rates. Mr. Bullen, representing the Midland 

 Counties Agricultural Traders' Association, went so far as to 

 say that a simple universal system of rates (such as prevails 

 in Germany) would save farmers from 2s. to 5s. an acre on 

 their arable land. 



Since 1839, when Mr. Gladstone brought in a Bill to revise 

 railway rates, there have been at least twelve Committees or 

 Commissions bearing upon the subject, and the evidence has 

 been overwhelming of the hindrance to trade. In 1893 the 

 House of Commons passed a resolution that the railway rates, 

 charges, and conditions of traffic were most prejudicial to 

 the agricultural and economical interests of the country, and 

 recommending the Government to deal promptly and effec- 

 tively with the subject. But the hindrance still exists; the 

 British rates are still the highest in Europe, although the 

 circumstances are more favourable to low rates here than in 

 many other countries. 



The experience of nearly a century has amply proved the 

 powerlessness of Parliament to deal with the question with- 

 out taking over the responsibility for the finance and manage- 

 ment of the railway system. To quote an extreme case, it 

 might often happen that a loss over one transaction, or even 

 a loss over one stretch of railroad, would be a gain to the 

 nation as a whole. Some time ago the German nation 

 carried hops from Bavaria to Hamburg free, in order to 

 enable them, if possible, to capture our market, the dead loss 

 to the railway system being more than counterbalanced 

 by the profit on other pages of the national ledger. It is 



