§ 64. Mr. KENYONasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that, notwithstanding the appeals to traders to 433 dispense as far as possible with the use of timber for cases and containers for goods, complaints have been made to his Department that the railway companies are charging double rates on goods sent in packages instead of in cases as formerly, and, in addition, insisting on such traffic being consigned at owner's risk conditions; and whether, in view of the necessity for reducing the traffic on the railways by avoiding the return of empty cases and of the shortage of timber, he will make representations to the railway companies on the desirability of relaxing their requirements for packing goods in wooden cases, and that such goods if sent at owner's risk should be charged the same rates as when sent in cases?
Sir A. STANLEYThe only general alteration made by the railway companies in their packing regulations in recent years is, I think, that made in 1916, when, having regard to the shortage of timber referred to in the question, they agreed to accept traffic consigned in reliable fibre-board packages. I am aware that, in accordance with the provisions of the classification, certain articles consigned unpacked or lightly packed are charged at higher rates than if they had been more substantially packed, but I cannot undertake to ask the railway companies to reduce the charges in such cases or to accept at company's risk articles which, owing to insufficient packing, cannot safely be conveyed by rail.