128 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
further lost by the railways, or a similar margin that may be won back 
by them under favourable conditions. 
Before the coming of the railways coastwise shipping used to be of 
the greatest importance to British trade, and during the nineteenth century 
it remained a formidable competitor to the railways. War-time con- 
ditions, however, transferred much of the traffic to the railways, and even 
yet coastwise shipping has not fully recovered from this set-back. 
Nevertheless coastal shipping is by no means a negligible competitor 
with the railways since it is a very cheap form of transport. It has 
indeed been described as the British equivalent of the inland waterways 
of the Continent. It is particularly well suited to the carriage of coal 
(indeed 60 per cent. of the commodities carried coastwise consist of coal), 
and for the distribution of foodstuffs from ocean-going vessels. 
Coastwise passenger services operate between London and Newcastle, 
Liverpool and Scotland, while goods services are very numerous. From 
Manchester, for example, cargo liners sail weekly to Aberdeen, Dundee, 
Leith, Kirkcaldy, Newcastle ; and twice weekly to London, Glasgow, 
and Greenock. The coastal liner services are now utilising road transport 
to effect collections and deliveries, and in this way are able to give direct 
door-to-door services, for which through rates are charged. Containers 
are also being employed. 
During recent years it would seem that the railways have lost some of 
their traffic to the coasting trade. In evidence before the National Wages 
Board a year or two ago, Sir Ralph Wedgwood stated that the railways 
had lost the carriage of two million tons of coal from the Midlands to the 
South in consequence of the competition of coal shipped coastwise from 
Northumberland and Fife. Coastal shipping rates, he stated, are now 
16 per cent. below their pre-war level owing to the severe depression in 
the freight market. 
A recent important development in the coasting trade has been the evolu- 
tion of Diesel-engined shallow-draught vessels capable of working into the 
smaller ports of the country. Such ships are now regularly penetrating to 
such places as Norwich, Colchester, York, Selby, Lancaster, Bridgwater, 
Gainsborough, Truro, Penryn, Exeter, and Totnes. The total number 
of ships engaged in navigating shallow channels has of recent years tended 
to diminish owing to the ‘ scrapping’ of obsolete sailing vessels, but, 
owing to the substitution of power-driven vessels of larger size, the volume 
of trade has tended to increase. ‘The use of such craft has, for example, 
transformed Norwich as a port, and no less than 30,000 to 40,000 tons of 
sea-borne coal a year are now being carried into Norwich, whereas a few 
years ago the port was little used. 
Some of the latest coasting vessels, though of 1,400 tons dead weight, 
have a draught under full load of somewhat under 14 ft., and can therefore 
enter ports formerly used by only the smallest coastal liners. ‘The ships 
are fitted with the most modern equipment for the handling and stowage 
of cargo, and are therefore independent of the dock facilities—formerly 
a question of considerable difficulty. It is indeed true to say that the 
British shallow-draught coasting trade is being rapidly revolutionised. 
Air transport is the third, and most recent, competitor with rail transport. 
