70 JOURNAL OF THE KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



But I believe a great deal can be done without absolute Parliamentary 

 action, and I ask your Federation to take this opportunity of working on 

 the lines I have suggested. 



The Discussion. 



Miss Crooks : I have been head of Lady Warwick's Cottage Garden 

 Market for five years. We have also been striving in the direction indi- 

 cated by the speakers to-day. During the last two years we have been 

 trying to get concessions from the railway companies for small quantities, 

 but we have only succeeded in getting a very few reductions. Every- 

 thing turns upon that "owner's risk rate." If things go right nothing is 

 heard of them, but if a customer complains that things do not arrive in good 

 condition there is no redress. I quite agree with many of the gentlemen 

 who have spoken. Most conferences are no use at all. I have attended 

 many, and I have seen no results from any of them. I think with some 

 people that the only thing that can be done is to take the matter to 

 Parliament. 



Mr. C. Bettison (Leeds) : I join issue with Mr. Idiens that my part 

 of the country has a good railway service from the Worcester district. We 

 do not call the service good. I do not think he speaks for the majority 

 of the growers in his district. I think he must have got some concessions 

 that they have not got, and that that is why he is speaking for the rail- 

 way companies. Some people would say that he held a brief for the 

 companies ! We, as salesmen, know that the service from Worcestershire 

 is nothing like what it was. Three years ago, when the railway companies 

 delivered goods too late for market, they paid us reasonable compensation. 

 Since the combination of the railway companies that has ceased. I think, 

 if we are to do anything, we shall have to agitate throughout the country, 

 and that is what our Federation is trying to do. The companies are 

 trying to shut the mouths of individuals by granting them concessions, 

 and that is what they have done in the case of Mr. Idiens ! We want 

 something all round. 



Mr. Idiens : I deny that I have got concessions as suggested ! I 

 say that on any fair construction these rates are fair and reasonable, and 

 should satisfy any man connected with the fruit industry. As to my 

 representing the Evesham fruit-growers, I would refer you to Mr. Bos- 

 cawen. When he questioned the growers there I believe the answer he 

 got was that everything was fairly satisfactory. 



Mr. Thwaites (Covent Garden) : Mr. Idiens referred to fruit fetch- 

 ing £25 to £30 a ton. I do not think you will find £25 as anything like 

 an average. 



Mr. Cecil Hooper : There is one hardship in connection with 

 owner's risk, and that is the loss from packages. When consignments of 

 strawberries have arrived short I have claimed from the companies, and 

 they have said they could not entertain the claim. In fact you must 

 lose your whole consignment before you can sustain a claim. It is a 

 great hardship to have to check the large quantities that arrive, on the 

 spot. 



Mr. Percy V. Cooke (Vice-President of the Jersey Growers' Associa- 

 tion) : I have attended one or two conferences in the Channel Islands, 



