REPORT OF THE APPLE AND PEAR CONFERENCE. 105 



furnishes to producers for reaching the retailers in outlying 

 districts. 



In this matter, so far as fruit is concerned, facilities for its 

 effective collection, safe transport, and speedy delivery are of a 

 much greater consideration than the actual charge made for the 

 services rendered, but this should certainly be a figure within 

 reason ; but the principal thing that the agricultural classes 

 generally, as a body of producers, should seek to obtain, is a 

 ready means for reaching consumers in all districts through the 

 existing retail traders. For this purpose they should seek for 

 the establishment of a " farm produce train " — a service to 

 be carried out on the lines of the " parliamentary train " and 

 the "van train," which was in existence for a number of years, 

 and only recently abandoned. By the parliamentary train the 

 passenger rate for one train daily was fixed by law. The van 

 train was for parcels, and the rates were made by the railway 

 companies themselves, being one-half the ordinary parcel rates, 

 with a minimum of 6d. At the present time, a parcel traffic is 

 in existence on all railways by passenger trains, and this is 

 governed by radius of distance — up to thirty miles being \d. 

 per lb. ; up to fifty miles per lb. ; up to 100 miles \&. per lb., 

 with a minimum rate of GcZ. for a parcel. A moderate exten- 

 sion of this parcel system to goods packages, with half a cwt. as 

 a minimum, and with wider radius, on the basis of the van train 

 charge — that is, one-half the current parcel rates — would prove 

 advantageous to farmers, and bring the railway a large and 

 remunerative traffic. 



This should be sought for, and would probably be conceded 

 by the railway companies without difficulty. 



The time has arrived when, as a result of the protracted 

 agitation upon which producers have been for years engaged, the 

 subject is about to be dealt with by the Board of Trade, who 

 have been appointed to act as arbitrators between the public 

 and the railway companies. 



It is therefore essential that the vast network of producers 

 throughout the United Kingdom should, in their several and 

 separate spheres, determine the actual requirements of their par- 

 ticular commodities, and then by united action place themselves 

 in a position to approach the Board of Trade in a tangible and 

 effective manner, so as to be able to put forward and substantiate 

 simple and definite claims in every instance. 



To this end the agricultural classes should, individually, 

 collectively, and promptly study the subject in all its bearings, 

 in order to see where their particular interest is affected, and 

 how it may be remedied. Even then the contest is a most 

 unequal one, for the railway companies are few in number, but 

 united as one body, having an unlimited command of capital 

 for their purpose, coupled with the best practical legal and com- 



