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Road-Rail Struggle for Racehorse. Traffic

4th December 1936
Page 37
Page 37, 4th December 1936 — Road-Rail Struggle for Racehorse. Traffic
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

AT Chester, last week, a railway witness mentioned that the rail charge for carrying a horse a distance of Li mile would be about 22s. The NorthWestern Deputy Licensing Authority was hearing an application by Miss M. V. Bullock, of Oakmere, for a B licence for a 3-ton vehicle to carry racehorses throughout Great Britain, collection to he restricted to within five miles of base. •

In his opening, Mr. Henry Backhouse, Jun., said that Miss Bullock was the owner of a horsebox which was stationed at Oakmere. The railway company had a horsebox at Chester and charged 10s. Bd. to bring a horse from Chester to Oakmere, or vice versa, a distance of 13 miles. Within five miles of Oakmere there was no other facility. Actually Miss Bullock wished to carry only for her father and for a Mr. Cowie.

Mr. Dawson, secretary to Mr. Cowie, said that the railway company had guaranteed on separate occasions to send horses for him to Derby and Newcastle in time for the races and they arrived three hours late. Witness said that it cost just as much to send one horse by rail horsebox as it did to send two. Asked by Mr. P. Kershaw, for the railways, what was the proportion of failures in rail delivery, Mr. Dawson said it was at least half.

Mr. J. Fellows, of Tarporley, a Blicence applicant who volunteered to give evidence, said that the railways often asked him to help, them out of a difficulty. A few days previously a man asked him to take a hunter from Cuddington, as it had been there from 4 pan. until TO p.m. Witness quoted three recent instances of non-delivery.

In another case a woman made arrangements with the railway to carry ponies to Chester Show and, at the last moment, the company said it could not take them. Only a day or so ago a man had asked Mr. Fellows whether he' could take some cattle to Manchester, as the railways had not moved them.

Mr. H. Leach, of the L.M.S. Railway Co„ gave 'evidence regarding rail facilities and said that he could hardly believe Mr. Dawson's statement that half his rail consignments were failures.

Mr. Kershaw stated that it would appear that the vehicle under consideration was run under C hiring allowances possessed by Mr. Bullock and Mr. Cowie, and for the applicant's own horses. Miss Bullock had said that if the railways had a horsebox based at'Oakmere, her difficulties would largely disappear, and later she' had declared that if she were allowed to carry horses to the railway stations as a feeder, it would not be economic. Miss Bullock should be allowed to carry only to the four stations.

Mr. Backhouse submitted that nothing the railways had said altered his contention that they did not provide a collection and delivery service in that area for horses,

Decision' waS reserved.


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