§ 28. Mr. CHARLES BATHURSTasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to a case tried at Reading County Court on Thursday last by Judge Harrington, in which Messrs. Cumber and Giles, farmers, of Beenham, in the county of Berks, failed to recover from the Great Western Railway Company the value of a milk churn admitted to have been lost by the company, owing to the impossibility of proving wilful misconduct on the part of the company's servants as required by the usual owner's risk consignment note; whether he is aware that dairy farmers cannot afford to pay companies' risk rates without sacrificing the whole margin of profit on the sale of their milk; and whether the provisions of the Government Railway Bill will be effective to carry out the expressed view of the above-named judge that the onus regarding the loss of goods carried on these conditions should in fairness be shifted from the consignor on to the railway company?
Mr. ROBERTSONMy right hon. Friend has seen a report of this case. The Bill now before the House provides, as recommended by the Departmental Committee on Railway Agreements and Amalgamations, that where goods are carried at owner's risk rates a trader shall be able to claim a company's risk 1303 rate exceeding the owner's risk rate only by an amount representing the difference in liability, and this seems to my right hon. Friend the proper remedy for any real grievance of the kind referred to in the question.