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REASONS FOR THE REVISION OF RAII WAY RATES.

4th November 1919
Page 8
Page 8, 4th November 1919 — REASONS FOR THE REVISION OF RAII WAY RATES.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

0 NE OF THE most important questions upon which the Rates Advisory Committee, recently appointed by the Minister of Transport, will ultimately have to advise the Minister is the question of a general revision of the basis of rates and charges on railways.

This subject is of great importance, not only because of the necessity for obtaining increased revenue in order to meet the deficit on railway working, but also because the present classification of goods traffic and the statutory powers for its conveyance were based on conditions prevailing some 30 years ago. No provision was made for the changing conditions of trade, and there have been many material changes which, both in the interest of the trade affected and in that of the railway, should be taken into account and provided for.

When the maximum rates were fixed in 1891 and 1892, the various commodities were divided into eight classes and, in determining the class in which a particular commodity should be placed, more prominence appears to have been given to the value of the article than to the cost of the service. Rates have been provided

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for the eight classes on a fairly uniform scale throughout the country, but not more than one-fourth of the total business is carried at, these class rates, the remaining three-foUrths being carried at what are known as "exceptional " rates, which are lower than the class rates. In the framing of these exceptional rates a variety of considerations other than the mere cost of conveyance have been taken into account by die companies such as the value of the goods, the risk of loss or damage, the method of packing, quantities in which the commodity moves, water and read competition, etc., or "what, the traffic will bear," with the result that a most complex system of varying rates has been built up, there being thousands of different rates on the railway companies' books. This system has resulted in numerous anomalies; it is not, therefore, to be wondered at that there has been a demand from the trading interest of the country for the adoption of some more systematic arrangement of rates for particular descriptions of traffic on appropriate reileage scales, so far as possible. Again, there is a great want of elas

ticity about the present system. Should a company, with the object of assisting some new industry, or to tide them over some exigency of trade, voluntarily reduce their working classification of particular traffics below that authorized by Parliament, or quote special rates, they cannot, when the circumstances change or the emergency passes, if challenged by the trader, advance their charges, or restore the original classification, without justifying the increase before the Court of the Railway and Canal Commission.

Both the Board of Trade Railway Conference of 1909 and the Departmental Committee on Railway Agreements and Amalgamations, which reported in 1911, expressed the view that if a company had granted experimental reduction in charges in expectation of certain results which did not occur, such a circumstance ought to go far to justify the re-imposition of the former charges. Freight rates should be made more adaptable to the fluctuations of commerce, and improved conditions of loading erupt to re-act to the mutual advantage o trader and railway company.


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