F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 127 
To commercial travellers, salesmen, etc., the motor-car is a most valuable 
help. Naturally this development has robbed the railways of much 
trafic which would otherwise have come to them, but which they are 
unlikely to regain. The effect is most obvious in the case of first-class 
traffic. ‘There must also be a considerable loss of traffic to the railways 
during holiday times. On the other hand, there is no doubt that a big 
proportion of road traffic is new traffic which would not have developed 
without the motor-car. 
The competition of the motor-bus and motor-coach has been most 
severe on local journeys, short distance travel, and cross-country routes, 
where the railway station is not so near, or the services less frequent, or 
the timings not so good. In these circumstances, partly through greater 
convenience, partly owing to lower fares, the motor-bus has established 
a definite ascendency and it will be no easy task for the railways to regain 
much of this traffic. 
On the goods side the competition of road transport with rail has become 
intensified during recent years. Again, this competition is partly a matter 
of the convenience of road transport; but it is chiefly a question of 
charges, especially in the case of goods placed in the higher classes of the 
general railway classification. Road hauliers have been able to quote low 
rates for the higher grades of traffic without any statutory obligation to 
carry commodities in the lower grades, such as ores, iron, coal, limestone, 
or road metal. Knowing both the standard and the exceptional rates of 
the railways from any station to any other, they can undercut the railways 
with a lower rate, and frequently base their charges on the existing railway 
rate. 
Mr. W. V. Wood, a vice-president of the London, Midland, and 
Scottish Railway, has recently emphasised the probable effects of such 
competition. ‘It is clear that the two systems cannot live together, 
and ordinary commercial considerations will force a levelling downwards 
of the higher railway rates and a levelling upwards of the lower railway 
rates, if the conditions governing the use of the public roads continue as 
now.’ 
The Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, which is now coming into operation, 
will no doubt tend to restrict increased competition from road hauliers, 
since before new licences to operate goods vehicles may be granted it has 
to be shown that there is a need for them, and the railways have a right 
to lodge objections. But it must be remembered that the Act permits 
what is called ‘ claimed tonnage ’ to all existing operators. There can, 
therefore, be no immediate reduction in competition. Moreover the issue 
of “ C’ licences, that is, licences to those traders using road transport in 
connection with their own business and not carrying for others, may not 
be refused for either new or old tonnage, except on grounds of former 
bad conduct or failure to observe conditions. But, as stated in the 
Report of the Royal Commission on Transport, 80 per cent. of goods- 
carrying vehicles are owned by traders and manufacturers for providing 
their own collections and deliveries, and one effect of the 1933 Act may 
be to increase the number of traders who provide their own transport. 
There is here, therefore, a wide margin of goods traffic which may be still 
