The rate for hardware from Birmingham to Newcastle for export--206 miles--is 27s. 6d. per ton, including collection and delivery, but it is shewn as 25s. 6d. per ton, station to station, overlooking the special owner’s risk rate of 25s. per ton, which also includes collection and delivery. The German rate for the same distance (331 kilometres) is incorrectly given as 18s. 7d. per ton; the lowest station to station rate is 19s. per ton for full truckloads of not less than 5 tons, the rate for smaller quantities, including collection and delivery, being 45s. 2d. per ton. In Belgium again, the station to station rate of 18s. 11d. per ton (which should be 19s. 4d.) is for a minimum of 8 cwt., the rate, including collection and delivery for the same minimum, being 24s. 3d. per ton. The Dutch station to station rate of 14s. 10d. per ton (which should be 15s. 7d.) is for full truck loads of not less than 5 tons, the rate, including collection and delivery for any quantities, being 30s. 4d. per ton. In the German tariff the rate is 2·15d. per ton per mile for goods of every description in lots of less than 5 tons, with a lower tariff divided into six classes for goods in full truckloads of 5 and 10 tons. The latter have been compared with the rates on English railways applicable to consignment of 500 lbs. and over, or of 2 tons. The higher foreign tariff for such traffic, in like circumstances, is not shown. To arrive at a proper comparison, the English rate should, in many instances, have been compared with the rates charged for “_Eilgut_” (or fast goods service) on the continental lines. Of course, the general public in Holland and Germany cannot avail themselves of the rates for 5 and 10 ton lots. They must deal with carriers or forwarding agents, who perform many of the services included in the rates on English railways, and who fill up, or partially fill up, truckloads. The agents who pay the railway transit charges are free to make their own charges to the public without limitation. What would be instructive--what, however, is not supplied--would be a comparison between what is actually paid in England, and what the majority of the public pay in Germany; it is of little interest to know _what the carriers or forwarding agents pay_ to the railway companies. The comparison, such as it is, does not show the rate of conveyance per ton, because the carriers have to pay as for five or ten tons, even if that quantity is not in a wagon. They must make charges to the public beyond the ordinary profits to cover deficiencies in the loads per wagon, as well as for all the services performed by them.[117]