Railway rates

Abstract

A great deal of discontent is felt by traders, and by the general public, with the charges made by railway companies for the carriage of goods and passengers. It is alleged: That trade is injured by excessive rates, which prevent its development; that railway charges are higher than formerly; at least relatively since many rates were increased about 1872-3, when prices of wages and materials (especially coal) were high, but have not again fallen with the prices of these materials; that particular towns are favoured by certain companies, and that rates are in general unequal and fixed on no uniform principle whereby traffic is diverted from its natural channels; that the rates charged are frequently in excess of what may be legally charged by the companies under their acts of parliament; that it is difficult or even impossible to ascertain what, in a particular case, a company is entitled to charge, or will charge; that traders have no effectual means of resisting the excessive or illegal charges of the companies; that canals have been rendered almost powerless to compete with railways, by the fact that the companies have got possession of many important links in the system of navigation; that railways are carrying some traffic at a loss, and are levying excessive charges upon other descriptions of traffic to maintain their dividends.