1909.] Board of Trade Railway Conference. 



forms of negligence on the part of the companies' servants ; 

 and (2) that owing to the lowness of the owner's risk rates 

 as compared with the corresponding company's risk rates, 

 they are the only rates commercially possible for the ordinary 

 trader. 



The answer of the railway companies is that the reduced 

 rates at owner's risk are a concession to the trader, and are 

 the subject of a purely voluntary contract between the parties, 

 which is almost invariably based upon other considerations 

 as well as that of risk, and that it is always open to a trader 

 to have his goods carried subject to conditions applicable to 

 railway carriers at a rate within the company's statutory 

 maxima, and that these had been recently settled by the Acts 

 of 1891 and 1892. 



It appeared from the evidence that the companies do not 

 strictly enforce their legal rights in all cases. 



It was pointed out to the Conference that an extension of 

 the liability of railway companies in the direction desired by 

 the traders could be secured either (1) by enlarging the 

 liability of the companies under their contract note so as to 

 include, for example, cases of gross or serious negligence, 

 or (2) by drawing up a list which might be inserted in the 

 consignment note of specific instances in which compensation 

 would be paid. 



The Conference, after full discussion, resolved to recom- 

 mend the second alternative as a solution of the difficulty, 

 and finally adopted three clauses embodying a list of cases 

 where, subject to the conditions of the note, the companies 

 would accept liability. These, it is proposed, should be in- 

 serted in the existing consignment notes for general goods, 

 perishable merchandise, other than milk, carried in passenger 

 trains, and milk, respectively. 



At the desire of the Conference, the railway representatives 

 consulted the companies generally, and ascertained that, 

 with the view of settling this controversy and avoiding legis- 

 lation, they were willing to embody these additions in their 

 present consignment notes subject to any drafting that might 

 be found necessary by counsel. 



The amendments recommended are as follows : — 



I. — Goods carried in Merchandise Trains. — The following addition to 

 be embodied in the present consignment note for goods to be carried at 



