Railway Companies and the Cartage Menace.
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By Philip Kershaw.
The forthcoming enquiry, by the Rt. Hon. D, Lloyd. George, into the details of the railway companies' businesses, cannot fail to throw light on some very interesting manipulations on the part of the ruling powers in the various systems. The confidence of the traders is so strong in respect of his power, tact, and fairness, which desirable attributes are possessed by the Rt. Hon, gentleman to an unusual degree, that it is a matter of certainty he will not fail them by failing an easy prey to the blandishments of the railway magnates.
The Trader must he Protected.
It is a simple axiom that, if there were no trade, the railways could not exist. Reverse it, and we have different conditions. Trade could exist, perhaps in a slower fashion, but, with the commercial and pleasure motor vehicles at their present standard, a very bold bid could be made to exist without the aid of the railways. There is a striking object-lesson in this, especially to the traders and carriers who own commercial lorries. That, however, is not the point at issue so much as the imperative necessity, now more than at any other period in the history of the trade of this country, for the traders and independent carriers to have the fullest protection against any adverse conditions which the railway companies may seek to impose upon them, in relation to the carriage of goods in particular. To quote three of the so-called "Traders Acts," those of 1873, 1888, and 1894, it is clearly evident that, in regard to many points, such as analysis of rates, compulsory publication of rates and distances, and responsibility for the justification of increases in rates, which lie with the railway companies, the traders have some degree of protection.
Irritating Restrictions and Indirect Increases.
It is not, however, in these broad principles—and the daily attempt, successful and otherwise, at evasions of these laws by the railway companies would make an Encyclopdia Britannica look a veritable pigmy if they were chronicled— that we must look for the troubles, only a small portion of which can be here detailed, but in the onerous regulations in regard to varions traffics which have been wedged into the railway rates from time to time. Split delivery charges, decreased periods of free storage, increased minimum loads, demurrage on wagons, are a few only of these increases, and their number is being augmented at every opportunity. The result in many thousands of cases Has been to effect an indirect increase in the rates. Here, it may be noted, under the Act of 1894, traders have the right of challenging such increases before the Board of Trade and, ultimately, the Court of the Railway and Canal Commission, but this is the very point at which the traders ought to have, without recourse to prolonged and costly litigation, the protection -which is their right. During the last seven years in particular, these reductions in facilities have assumed such alarming proportions that it would be a work of considerable magnitude to marshal them in their order and entirety. The most irritating and harmful of this phalanx of indirect increases, in its far-reaching effects on traders and independent carriers, is that resulting from the insufficient rebates which are allowed—when claimed—in respect of cartage, to and from the stations, on goods carried at rates inclusive of collection and delivery.
Decreased Cartage Rebates.*
The main object of this article is one which must be of interest to traders and to independent carriers, that is, to show that, in the mean allowances doled out for cartage services on ".collected and delivered " traffic, there is, and has been for a long period of years, a very serious menace and intent on the part of the railway companies. In hundreds of towns, the rebate for carting certain traffic carried at low rates is the paltry sum of tod. per ton, and this on rates up to Ss. 4d. per ton for rates between that and 125. 6d. per ton, the rebate is is. per ton, and, on rates over 12S. 6d. per ton, the allowance is is. 6d, per ton. This scale has been in operation 14 years! Counsel's arguments in Court, when defending important cases of increases in rates, are usually based on increased cost of handling, during recent periods of, say, three or live years. Surely it is not too much, therefore, for the traders and carriers to say that the cost of cartage has advanced three or four times in the period of 14 years? If that is conceded, these paltry hardand-fast rebates fall to the ground.
A not uncommon earning for a single horse-lorry and driver for a day, on this " tenpenny " cartage to a station two miles away, is 6s. 8d., and for a steam or petrol lorry about 25s., but even the latter admittedly cheaper cartage does not pay for cost, whilst the poor horse-owner is reduced to the level of the man who cut down his horse's provender to one straw a day, with dire results Singularly, the London rebates are the same amounts as the railway companies' charge on " station to station " traffic, and run up to as much as 6s. 8d. per ton, while the provinces are expected to be content with the above-quoted rebates, with but small variations in different districts. The reason for these differences the railway companies " do not know," and they have admitted they " do not know" anything about the cost of cartage. " Do not know," in these cases, is synonymous with " 1 do know, but will not tell you "
Then, again, the standard rebates are lowered in the case of " exceptional " rates, and on " shipping " rates. In regard to the latter, the traders and team-owners of Manchester and many other towns and cities have had a grievance for a long term of years, and one which seems likely to go unredressed unless some strong and definite action is taken. Considerations of space forbid my entering into the governing details which make this question such a vital one in the minds of the railway companies : that it is so regarded has been amply demonstrated in the recent case of Pickford's, Ltd., v. L.N.W.Ry. Co, Equally certain is it that they will stick to the advantage they have gained : would that there were more inclination, in their own interests, for the traders and carriers to combine, on this subject, in such a manner as to wrest this temporary victory from the railways, and to relegate them, once and for all, to their rightful position.
Pickford's Case and the Appeal.
The appeal in this celebrated case has, unfortunately, been dismissed in favour of the railway company. So much hung on the judgment, that it has now become more than questionable whether, on " collected and delivered " traffic, the traders and carriers will ever obtain the amount of rebate to which they are entitled in equity. The case bristles throughout with an enormous number of side issues, and possibilities for the evasion of their responsibilities, in this direction, by the railway companies. The ultimate conclusion is that the necessity for combined action by the interested traders and carriers is imperative. A temporary " impasse " has been reached, but the recent struggle of the railway workers points the way to success. As one who has given no half-hearted study to this question, the writer strongly urges all who may read this article to spread the following views by every means in their power.
Universal "Station to Station" Rates.
The refusal if the Courts to recognise the plea that the amount of cartage originally included in the compilation of
" collected and delivered " rate, or, in the alternative, that the standard of cartage charged by the companies on "station to station" traffic should be the measure of rebate, leaves one alternative. It is possible for everyone interested in " C. and .D." rates to say to a railway company or companies, " put us alternative S. to S.' rates in force." When these are rendered, though possibly not so satisfactory as may be expected, they still have this effect, that those who use them reduce the railway companies to the state, or a similar one, in which they were before " C. and D." rates were put into, force by them. The level to which they will thus be reduced may then be regarded as a " maximum station to 'station " one, and, more important than all, they will be deprived, to a large extent, of the opportunity to (art at either end ; thus, inferentially, they will lose their chance of securing the coveted control of all " collected and delivered" traffic.
In addition to these points, a most important factor to be remembered is that if, in the future, the railway companies should be granted, or take to themselves, the power to charge, an all-round increase in rates, these increases will have a proportional effect on the cartages included in all the " C. and D." rates, which cartage increase will most decidedly not be disbursed by them in larger rebates to the traders and carriers l Put in a nutshell, let us suppose that the whole of the many millions of " C. and D." rates were, to-morrow, replaced, through the absolutely unanimous applications of every interested person, by alternative " S. to S." rates, then the traders and carriers would have a free field for the cartages at each end, and would know that they had, practically, relegated the railway companies to that position which is their strictly legal one, i.e., carriers on their railway line. It may reasonably he asked, " Why put us. to ;11 this trouble?" Traders who use motor lorries are extending their fields daily, and they do not care that much for the carting of traffic to and from stations, but, in so doing, each one is helping himself and others, yet there must be times when cartage to or from stations cannot be despised. Besides, ali the large firms do not possess siding accomaKAation, and there are a great many which have available for carting contracts daily traffics sufficient to keep several motor lorries going in cartage to or from the station. Apart from this reasoning, there is the underlying principle that the traders, the team-owners, and the steamwagon or petrol-lorry owners are the ones who have the right to this carting, and, above all, the right of reasonable payment for their services, and it may be of interest, at this point, to draw the attention of prospective purchasers of motor lorries to the recent attraction offered by one or two important makers in arranging for a moderate fixed sum per annum, to keep their customers' machines in repair, including renewals of parts where necessary. This will enable traders and team-owners to ascertain, approximately, the total cost of upkeep, besides relieving them of the responsibility and worry consequent on the possibility of a big repair bill. The extension of this system would make it clearer still that those who have large traffics to handle need hesitate no longer in their contemplation of the adoption of motor haulage.
Poor Jones!
" We may, if we choose, so long as we treat everyone alike, say that we charge nothing for carting in a C. and D.' rate," said Counsel for the railway companies, during the hearing of Pickford's case! To grasp the significance of this astonishing remark, let us take an example.
" Jones," the team-owner, who, incidentally, is contemn
plating the purchase of a steam or petrol lorry, enters into an agreement—say for twelve months—with Messrs. Brown and Company to cart their traffic of 200 tons per week to the local station, and to do so for the rebate the railway company allows for cartage on a particular rate of ms. per ton, " C. and D.," knowing, beforehand, that the usual amount, on such a rate, is is. per ton. This may form the 'bulk of the traffic to that local station. Before the above agreement is made the railway company probably had the carting of this traffic, and, finding it taken away, it casts about for a means of reprisal. It is found that this rate of los. per ton is a long way below the maximum powers of charging, that it is possible to say the rate is made up of as. for station and service terminals and 6s. for conveyance on rails, and that there is nothing included in the rate for cartage at either end! " Jones," when he, or the firm for which he carts, applies for the rebate at the end of the month, is informed that the railway company performed the cartage originally for nothing, and that it cannot, therefore, allow him an)' rebate ! Poor Jones! This is only one of many possibilities under this bright specimen of the vaunted power of the railway companies:. Carriers and traders in Manchester, Birmingham, Northampton, and many other large centres have for too long smarted under these indignities, not to say iniquities, and, through the costly litigation involved and the present impotence of the Board of Trade, they have had their hands so tied that, at last, the burden has become almost unbearable. The writer's advice to them is to confer and to combine, along with their friends the traders, who, in their turn, should in no single instance decline to help, because, by so doing, they also decline to help themselves. Memorials to local Chambers of Commerce, for transmission by them to the Board of Trade, could not fail to have the effect of causing some investigation into this vexed question at the forthcoming Board of Trade enquiry. Pursue the war into the enemy's camp, force the railway companies to put alternative " S. to S." rates in force to every town and village to which they carry goods, and thus compel them to throw all the carting, to and from all their stations, open to competition.
How to Obtain "Station to Station" Rates.
In the case of Smith and Forre,t v. ToN.W.Ry, Co. in 1900, and others, Counsel for the railway admitted that the company must, in all applications from interested parties, put alternative " S. to S." rates in force : in the case of Pickford's, Ltd., v. IoN.W.Ry. Co., recently concluded, it was re-affirmed by the same Counsel. On such authority, therefore, should team OT motor owners induce traders to obtain these rates which will enable them to enter into fair competition for the carting, and at the same time " scotch " the undoubtedly determined efforts of the railway companies of Great Britain to usurp the functions of traders and town and city carriers. The Counsel in question said, in referring to the case with which these " S. to S." rates were to be obtained : "they (the traders) apply to the stations, and they get them." Therefore, in cases of tardiness in rendering these rates, a prompt report to the Board of Trade is advised, and this should hasten matters.
In conclusion, the hope may be expressed that the Commission of Enquiry, if appointed by the Board of Trade, will find that the traders and carriers of the country, in this and other connections, must have a fuller measure of competition and protection ; meantime, let those who will set their heads in the direction of working out their own salvation. .