CHAPTER III.

=Principles of Scheme.= Page 27.

=Present system= founded on two principles, both mistaken and illogical, viz.:--(=1=) According to distance travelled. (=2=) According to “what the traffic will bear.”

(1) Although cost of building 200 miles, and hauling train that distance is more than for two miles, yet because regular train service required for whole distance, say, A to Z and back, passing intermediate places, therefore cost of travelling from A to B, or to N, identical with A to Z. For goods, cost of loading and unloading twice only, whether sent from A to B, or A to Z.

(2) Cost of hauling ton of coal exactly same as of bricks, sand, loaded van, in open truck, yet now different rates for each, according to “what the traffic will bear.”

=True principle= advocated by Sir Rowland Hill in Penny Post--whole country suffers by neglect or expense of transport to distant parts, and gains by including small districts with same rates as populous parts.

=For a flat rate, three rules necessary.=

(_a_) Must not exceed lowest in use prior to adoption.

(_b_) Increased traffic resulting must produce at least same net revenue.

(_c_) Variations of rate to be according to speed, not distance.

Hence:

(_a_) =1d.= now lowest fare, fixed for Local Lines.

=1s.= now lowest fare, (_e.g._, 2s. 6d. return London to Brighton) fixed for Main Lines.

=1s. 6d.= per ton fixed for goods train or slow service, as the present average for minerals, and allowing present lowest rate for goods in open trucks, rising to, say, 6d. per cwt. (10s. per ton) for small consignments, in covered trucks.

=10s.= per ton, now lowest “per passenger train” (_e.g._, 6d. per cwt. for returned empties) fixed for fast service.

(_b_) The increased traffic dealt with under “Finance.”

(_c_) The two rates suggested for fast and slow trains solve the difficulty hitherto felt of charging lowest fare of 1d. as uniform fare--the 1s. fare and 10s. goods rate being double the present averages.