25/-
C.&D. 27/6
C.&D.   ”   ” Bedsteads 22/6
C.&D. 28/4
C.&D. London Plymouth Newspapers and Periodical 24/2
C.&D. 37/6
C.&D. Leeds Hull Woolen and Worsted Goods 12/6
C.&D. 16/8
C.&D. Manchester  ” Bale goods 17/6
C.&D. 31/8
C.&D. Liverpool  ” Salt Provisions 12/6
Carted 20/-
in Hull   ” London Fresh Meat 25/- a
C.&D. 50/- a
C.&D.       30/- b
C.&D. 55/- b
C.&D. Bristol  ” American Provisions 20/-
C.&D. 27/6 X
C.&D.  ”  ” Fresh Meat 20/- a
C.&D.
40/-       25/- b
C.&D. C.&D. Hull  ” Meat and other Imported Goods   25/-
C.&D. 40/-
C.&D.

  a. Exclusive of hampers.
  b. Inclusive of hampers.
  X Bacon in 1 ton lots 22/6 per ton C. & D.
   Butter and Lard in 4 ton lots 22/6 per ton C. & D.
  C. & D. In other words, collected and delivered.

In the interest of shippers transit rates have been adopted; and as an illustration, may be mentioned the rate for tea from China, Japan, and India, brought by water to London, and despatched to Liverpool by rail for shipment to America or elsewhere, viz.:—

From	To	Article	Export   Rates per ton	Local Rates   per Ton
London	Liverpool	Tea from China, India,  Japan, under Bond	25/- C.&D.	37/6 C.&D.
”	Birmingham	Tea	—	34/2 C.&D.
”	Manchester	”	—	40/0 C.&D.

In the abolition of these rates the home trader or consumer can have no direct interest; although the transit rate is lower than that for home traffic, it cannot in any way prejudice the English trader. If the special rate were withdrawn he would be no better off; the traffic would simply go to its destination by water.

To reduced export rates the objections are few. They are generally admitted to be useful; and at a time when on all hands it is urged to be necessary to extend our trade abroad, they could not be abolished without causing serious loss and loud complaints. It is important to enable a colliery owner to export coal, or a manufacturer without a port in the vicinity of his works, to export his wares on such terms that he will not be at a heavy disadvantage or be driven out of the field. Special lower rates enable the manufacturers of exported goods, such as manufactured cottons from Manchester, and hardware from Birmingham, to send them to London, and to avail themselves of lines of steamers sailing from several ports. But for such facilities exporters would be confined to one, and that the nearest, port, and they would lose the benefit of the competition in facilities and sea freights. The railway company which happened to own the route to the nearest port would possess a monopoly of the traffic, and might charge their full rates instead of the present reduced rates.

Nor is the practice recently introduced in the interest of railway companies. In the Act authorising the very first railway on which steam was used, the Stockton and Darlington, the principle is recognised. The tolls upon the coal shipped on board any vessel for export were fixed at one halfpenny per ton per mile, while the toll on all other coal was 4d. per ton per mile. Each of the special export rates has been made, it may be truly said, at the instance of some manufacturer or shipper who would be injured by their withdrawal. In granting such terms, railway companies have endeavoured to satisfy the urgent demands of customers. And if the rate to one intermediate place is fair and reasonable in itself, is it any substantial grievance that it is higher than the rate on goods for shipment?[15]

Special import rates have been much more attacked; but when the principle is fairly carried out, they are no less defensible than export rates. Most of the objections to them come, it will be found, from persons who believe that they have a vested interest in certain produce and trades; often they are assailed by the very persons who are the defenders of reduced export rates. The majority of special import rates naturally arise out of sea competition. The existence of the import rates for fresh meat and provisions from Liverpool and Bristol to London, which have been especially condemned, is due, not, as is assumed, to the arbitrary action of companies, but to the demands and necessities of traders. Those who are interested in the trade of Liverpool, the great seat of the American trade, and in the steamers sailing between America and Liverpool, desire to compete with the direct sea communication with London, or with other ports near to it. In like manner the shipping companies and others who are interested in the trade of Southampton claim special rates and facilities in favour of that port. Naturally they wish that a part of the traffic should go viâ Southampton; and a compliance with their wish benefits the public.

Special import rates are not charged on foreign goods merely because they are foreign; the chief, though not the only, explanation of their existence, is the desire of steamboat companies and merchants that a part of the goods consumed in other places may be carried through the port in which they are interested, instead of the goods being all sent through ports nearer to or direct to the ultimate destination. The railways have, in fact, complied with urgent local demands.

Some rates for import traffic are less than for the same description of goods going in the opposite direction. Such cases are probably rare, and the circumstances of all of them are not fully