Those who buy commodities are interested in getting them to the various markets cheaply and in abundance. They wish the charge for transport to be small--they wish it to be small even if the distance from which the goods are conveyed be great, because their sources of supply are thereby increased. To the consumer the ideally perfect state of things would be a tariff for the conveyance of merchandise based on the same principle as the Penny Post; commodities would be conveyed at a low price, and producers over an immense area would be able to send them to market. To the consumer it would be in every way desirable that all disadvantages of distance or “geographical advantages” should disappear. Accordingly, as has been before stated, plans have been brought forward for making uniform rates for the same class of goods within a large area, or within certain regions or zones. The attainment of this is impracticable--the distance between various parts of the same country cannot be ignored, as in the case of carrying letters or transmitting telegrams. Consumers may fairly desire that the cost of transporting articles from a great distance may be lowered so as to permit of the influx of goods from remote parts. But unfortunately they cannot altogether efface distance. The next best thing is that the cost of transport shall not increase _pro rata_ with the distance. This reasonable desire railway companies have sought to satisfy, and with what results is well known. London, for instance, formerly drew its chief supplies of food from its immediate neighbourhoods. The extensive market gardens which existed, especially in the eastern and western suburbs, sent their produce to town by heavy road wagons, and to this day they continue to do so. But as population increased, and the demand for food became greater, the facilities, both in regard to conveyance and charges, afforded by the railway companies, enabled farmers, graziers, and market gardeners in distant parts of the kingdom to compete with those in the immediate neighbourhood of London, to the obvious advantage of the consumer. In this way fat cattle from Norfolk, meat from Scotland and Devonshire, fish from Scotland, Ireland, and the East and West Coast of England, broccoli and new potatoes from the Scilly Islands, Penzance and the Channel Islands, store potatoes from Lincolnshire and Scotland, and other articles of food are conveyed by the railway companies at rates which, although not proportionate to those charged for shorter distances, are beneficial to traders and their customers. Meat is carried from Yorkshire, about 189 miles, at 55s. per ton; from Aberdeen, 516 miles, at 67s. 6d.; and from Stromness, in Orkney, 776 miles, at 90s. per ton. Potatoes from Yorkshire are carried at 15s.; from Sunderland, 269 miles, 18s. 4d.; and from Aberdeen, 30s. per ton. The effect is to open fresh markets to producers throughout the country, and to supply the wants of an ever increasing population at