140 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
whole but by sections, distinguishing those sections which could and those 
which could not be worked profitably under a revised scheme of charges 
dictated not by adherence to the general railway classification, but by 
the exigencies of the situation, the charges being higher where the traffic 
is light than where it is heavy. The profitable lines would thus, he 
claimed, be able to earn a reasonable net revenue. The unprofitable 
lines would be closed down and their capital cost written off. The areas 
of the latter would then become entirely dependent on road or other 
modes of transport. It is even asserted that, of the 20,000 route miles, 
as much as 10,000 miles might have to be closed, and that, in fact, the only 
lines to be kept open might be the main lines between large towns. 
The adjustment required from the road transport industry would be 
equally drastic. Under such a scheme it would be required to serve only 
those routes, or areas, where traffic is both light and irregular, and where 
return loads are not by any means certain. Each mode of transport 
would have a virtual monopoly in its own area. 
It is hardly necessary to dwell on the opposition which such a division 
of traffic would call forth not only from the railways, but from the road 
hauliers, and, more important still, from the traders. It is sufficient 
criticism of such schemes to say that they fail to take account of the great 
diversity in transport needs, and in the most economic methods of meeting 
them. As modern practice is increasingly showing, a combination of rail 
and road transport is often the most efficient and economic method of meet- 
ing a given demand, particularly in the case of small consignments the 
delivery of which is urgently required. Moreover, it would entail carry- 
ing by road in certain areas, traffic for which road haulage is unsuitable 
and uneconomic; or in other areas sending goods by rail for which rail 
transport cannot give the kind of service required. 
It is not, therefore, by division into areas or spheres that the problem 
can be solved. Both rail and road transport are necessary in all areas, 
except those of very sparse population. ‘The decision as to which shall 
be employed for a given piece of transport must be decided by relative 
efficiency and relative cost in meeting the demand. The two modes of 
transport must necessarily be in constant competition with each other ; 
and it is desirable that they should be so. The real problem is whether 
those costs can be sufficiently nearly determined in any case to decide 
which is the more economic. 
A new phase in the competition between rail and road transport has 
arisen as a result of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933. Under section 37 
of Part II of this Act, a railway company may, subject to the approval of 
the Railway Rates Tribunal, make such charge or charges for the carriage 
of the merchandise of any trader, as may be agreed upon by the Company 
and the trader. Such ‘ agreed charges’ must, however, not be approved 
by the Tribunal if the object may, in its opinion, be secured, having 
regard to all the circumstances, by the grant of appropriate ‘ exceptional 
rates ’ as provided for in the Railways Act, 1921. Moreover, it is import- 
ant to note that a railway company in respect of an ‘ agreed charge’ is 
exempt from the obligation to make equal charges to all persons under 
like circumstances, and from the obligation to accord no undue preference 
