I take next the case of raw cotton as another bulky commodity carried in substantial quantities. At one time it was the custom in the Lancashire spinning trade for considerable supplies to be bought in Liverpool, taken to destination by canal, and stored in the mills for use as required. A certain proportion is still handled in this way; but the Lancashire spinners who now store their cotton are extremely few in number, and represent the exception rather than the rule. It is found much more convenient to receive from Liverpool from day to day by rail the exact number of bales required to meet immediate wants. The order can be sent, if necessary, by post, telegraph, or telephone, and the cotton may be expected at the mill next day, or as desired. If barge-loads of cotton were received at one time, capital would at least have to be sunk in providing warehousing accommodation, and the spinner thinks he can make better use of his money. The day-by-day arrangement is thus both a convenience and a saving to the trader; though it has one disadvantage from a railway standpoint, for cotton consignments by rail are, as a rule, so small that there is difficulty in making up a "paying load" for particular destinations. As the further result of the agitation a few years ago for the use of a larger type of railway waggons, experiments have been made at Liverpool with large trucks for the conveyance especially of raw cotton. But, owing to the day-by-day policy of the spinners, it is no easy matter to make up a 20-ton truck of cotton for many of the places to which consignments are sent, and the shortage in the load represents so much dead weight. Consignments ordered forward by rail must, however, be despatched wholly, or at any rate in part, on day of receipt. Any keeping of them back, with the idea of thus making up a better load for the railway truck, would involve the risk of a complaint, if not of a claim, against the railway company, on the ground that the mill had had to stop work owing to delay in the arrival of the cotton. If the spinners would only adopt a two- or three-days-together policy, it would be a great advantage to the railways; but even this might involve the provision of storage accommodation at the mills, and they accordingly prefer the existing arrangement. What hope could there be, therefore, except under very special circumstances, that they would be willing to change their procedure, and receive their raw cotton in bulk by canal boat?