536 



JOUKNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Eussell (Glasgow) said he had not much complaint about the 

 rates, and thought that the railways " could not do the thing much 

 cheaper than they are doing it now." 



Messrs. Wood and E. Pink, two Kentish growers, made no complaints 

 as to railway rates at all ; but it should be noted that all their produce 

 which goes to London is sent by road. 



The members of the Evesham Market Gardeners' Association, whom 

 the Committee had the pleasure of meeting on the occasion of their visit, 

 expressed themselves quite satisfied with the rates charged, and with the 

 facilities generally, on the Midland and Great Western Railways. 



48. A great deal of evidence as to rates was given by Mr. Hennell of 

 the Great Western Railway, and Mr. Vincent Hill of the South Eastern 

 and Chatham Railway. Mr. Hennell confirmed Mr. Idiens's evidence as 

 to the new scale introduced by the Great Western Railway after a con- 

 ference in 1896, and stated that, in the case of a small consignment of 

 twenty-four pounds by passenger train (the most expensive form of 

 carriage), the charge for 100 to 200 miles works out at \d. a pound ; 

 if five hundredweight were sent by passenger train the same distan.ce 

 the rate would come down to ^d. a pound ; if ten hundredweight were 

 sent it would be j (1 d. a pound. Turning to goods rates, ten hundred- 

 weight of Plums could be sent on the Great Western Railway 200 miles 

 for ^d. a pound, and ten hundredweight of Apples and Pears the same 

 distance for ^d. a pound. From this he contended that the freight 

 charge was a very small item to the trader ; and he quoted the opinion 

 of the late Sir Joseph Wilkinson (the general manager), that the Great 

 Western Railway was making no profit out of its fruit traffic. Mr. 

 Vincent Hill, on behalf of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway, 

 stated that, although their fruit rates had been fixed by the Railway 

 Rates and Charges Acts of 1891-2, his company had, after receiving a 

 deputation of growers, reduced them by 15 per cent, in 1896. The 

 whole of their fruit traffic sent to London by passenger train was con- 

 veyed at an average rate of i^d. a pound, while in the case of fruit sent 

 to London by goods train the average rate is ^. 2 d. a pound. These 

 charges appear at first to be lower than those of the Great Western, but 

 it should be pointed out that the average distance which fruit is carried 

 on the South Eastern and Chatham is very much less than in the case 

 of the Great Western. The Committee have thought it well to quote 

 the evidence as to rates rather fully, in order to show the conflict of 

 opinion which exists, and they now proceed to the other points connected 

 with railways. 



49. (b) The next complaint was that preferential rates were given to 

 foreign fruit. Many witnesses made this complaint, some quite generally, 

 others quoting what appeared to be definite examples. As, however, an 

 Inter-Departmental Committee has been appointed to deal with this 

 question, the Committee refrain from going further into it. 



50. (c) The complaint that preferential rates were given to one place 

 over another in the United Kingdom, and that the incidence of the rates 

 was very variable, was made by several witnesses, notably Mr. Gibbons, 

 who gave several examples of inequalities of rates from Guernsey to 

 different places in the United Kingdom ; Mr. Sinclair, who complained 



