Page:The Canal System of England.djvu/79

 yet are there any available English Railway Statistics as to the ton-mile rates (the railways themselves professing that they had not the information) and thus the English average can only be roughly estimated.

The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States shews that whereas the average ton mile rate in the United States is under d. per ton per mile for all descriptions of traffic, the average rate for the United Kingdom is not less than 1d. per ton per mile.

With the growth of close competition both home and foreign it is natural that traders and merchants should, by every means in their power, endeavour to reduce the cost of transit, and yet there is still great difficulty experienced in reaching some of the principal markets.

How was it that in 1895 the railway rates for coal from the Midlands to London were higher than the value of the coal at the pit?

How is it that at the present time the average cost of coal and coke at iron-works on the west coast is nearly twice as much as the cost at pits and ovens in South Durham? It is for want of adequate means of transport.

How is it that brine shafts in the centre of Germany having water communication with Holland, Belgium and Hamburg, have to a great extent cut out English salt from Holland and Belgium, and actually send salt to Newcastle-upon-Tyne? The reason is, that though the cost at the place of production is within a fraction of what it is in