§ 39 and 40. Captain STREATFEILDasked the Minister of Transport (1) if he can give the freightage costs per ton for goods carried by rail, road, and canal, respectively, operating at the present time;
(2) whether be can give the tonnage quantity of goods carried in the United Kingdom during the year 1926, or the latest year for which figures are available, by rail, road, and canal, respectively; and whether he can state the percentage increase or decrease in each case as compared with the years 1921 and 1913?
§ Colonel ASHLEYAs the replies to these questions include a number of figures, I will circulate them in the OFFICIAL REPORT. I have no information as to the tonnage of goods carried by road.
§ The figures for Question 39 are as follow:
§ The average charges for freight traffic conveyed by rail in the first four months of 1926 were as follows:
| Per ton. | ||
| s. | d. | |
| General Merchandise | 16 | 1 |
| Coal Coke and Patent Fuel | 3 | 8 |
| Other Minerals | 5 | 0 |
| All classes | 6 | 3 |
§ During the last eight months of 1926 importation of foreign coal and other cir-
| — | 1926. | Percentage increase (+) or decrease (-) 1926 compared with | ||
| 1921. | 1913. | |||
| By Rail. | Tons. | |||
| General Merchandise | … | 53,513,000 | + 5.9 | - 21.0 |
| Coal, Coke and Patent Fuel | … | 114,035,000 | - 11.1 | - 49.5 |
| Other Minerals | … | 48,032,000 | + 23.0 | - 32.4 |
| Total | … | 215,580,000 | - 1.1 | - 40.8 |
| By Canal. | ||||
| Coal | … | 5,247,00 | - 6.6 | Separate figures not available. |
| Other Traffics | … | 7,715,000 | + 23.2 | |
| Total | … | 12,962,000 | + 9.1 | - 46.2 (estd.). |
| The prolonged stoppages in the Coal Mines in 1921 and in 1926 affect any comparison be ween those years and between either of them and more normal years. |