“Grouping,” is the name of the familiar arrangement by which collieries or works within a given area are charged equal rates, and are thus enabled to compete on equal terms. In fixing the rates for traffic carried long distances, grouping stations far apart is carried out to some extent. For instance, the rates for tin plates from South Wales and Monmouthshire to Liverpool are the same from the works between Carmarthen on the west, and Monmouth on the east, the distances varying from 160 to 206 miles. So, too, the rates between Scotland and places in England, south of and inclusive of Yorkshire, are divided into groups--22 in the former, and 39 in the latter. Though the practice is not of the first importance to railway companies, it is not without value to them. If “grouping” were prohibited, and the nearest collieries or works could supply all the coal or goods which were required, railway companies might, in some cases, earn as much net profit on the traffic carried as if grouping were adopted. No doubt, however, if the nearest collieries or works charged the public enhanced prices, or if they could not supply the commodities to the extent required by the public, the railway companies would suffer. They would lose not only the traffic which they might have carried, but they would also suffer from the lessened prosperity of districts in which they had an indirect as well as a direct interest. The chief sufferers, however, from the giving up of “grouping” would be the public; they distinctly gain by the practice, though producers near great towns or sea-ports may lose the benefit of “geographical position.” Collieries and works which are “grouped” are enabled to contribute to the available supply. They enter markets from which they would be otherwise shut out; the extent of the trade is thereby increased; the price paid by the consumer may be lessened. In fact, many traders admit, tacitly at least, the value of the practice.