A.—s

394

Mr. DEAKIN : One of your lines of railway discriminates in favour of foreign imports as against Colonial imports. Mr. ASQUITH : What is that in reference to? Mr. DEAKIN : Danish butter and dairy produce has a preference on one, if not more, lines of railway in this country. I have that on the authority of people in the trade. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE : There are very bad cases. We are being driven to consider very carefully the whole policy of our railway system. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : What is the system you refer to ? Mr. DEAKIN : The through rate. Mr. ASQUITH : An inclusive through rate. Sir JOSEPH WARD : The German through rate I understand is given, provided it is shipped in a German ship. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE : It is a through rate. For instance, you pay, let us say, 565. a ton from a point inland in Germany to Durban. Supposing you have to go 400 miles further inland to get those goods, instead of paying what would be a fair and reasonable railway rate for the transport of the goods, say, from Magdeburg to Bremen, you only pay an additional Is. or 25., or some trifling sum of that sort, It is obvious that it does not pay the railway to carry these goods at a half-penny or a farthing per ton per mile. Therefore, somebody must be making up the loss, and the loss falls upon the railway system as a whole. The shipowner gets his 515., or whatever the charge may be. The loss does not fall upon him; he does not contribute. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : That is the question of long haulage and short haulage. You may have goods put on for many miles paying no more than for short haulage. It is a constant source of trouble, not so much in Canada as in the United States. Mr. DEAKIN : Many of the Trust operations in America have been conducted under that cover. Sir WILFRID LAURIER : That is one of their operations; but their operations are legion. It is the cause of trouble in the United States much more than in Canada. Mr. LLOYD GEORGE : It is a much more glaring thing than that. For instance, you would hardly charge practically the same rate for carrying goods for 10 miles as for carrying them 500 miles, would you ? Sir WILFRID LAURIER : T understand that under the present system they make through rates from the point inland to port of exportation both for the railway and shipping. Sir JOSEPH WARD: At a low rate if going by their own shipping. Mr. ASQUITH : To the ultimate point of destination. I

Elevonth Day. 6 May 1907.

Preferential Trade.