Notice of such exceptions has to be given to the Home Minister. Those reductions must be available for all goods of the same class, to be conveyed on the same line, and under the same conditions; they must be immediately advertised; and they remain in force during the existence of the contract. By the strict letter of the law it is provided that the same rates must, over the whole of the system of the railway, be charged by the company for the like article for the same distance. But, in consequence of the competition by inland navigation for traffic to and from places in Holland, and also by the Rhine, and through Belgium for German traffic, this requirement proved impossible to carry out in practice. The Government have found it necessary to allow the companies to enter into special contracts for the conveyance of goods on such conditions as they might consider it desirable to agree upon. Notice of any special contract must, as before stated, be given to the Minister of Commerce after it is entered into, and the official assent is subject to the company agreeing to enter into a like agreement with any other person. While such is the letter of the law, virtually enjoining equal mileage rates, the practice is altogether different. For any description of traffic, special agreements as to quantity to be forwarded and time of delivery are made. The great object is to obtain traffic. The published notices of such contracts contain, it may be added, no information which can be utilized. The following is an illustration of the special contracts entered into and of the manner in which their existence is notified:-- [COPY OF SPECIAL CONTRACT.] SPECIAL AGREEMENT for the carriage of slow train goods from _________________________________ to _________________________________ between ______________________________ on the one hand, and the General Goods Manager of the Railway Company, at ______________________________ contracting in the name of the Direction of the above-named Company (or Companies), on the other hand.