| From | To | Description of Goods. | In lots of | Distance (Km.) | Rate per 1000 Kg. [25] |
| Marks. | |||||
| Dortmund | Amsterdam | } Heavy iron and | 231 | 6·30 | |
| ” | Rotterdam | } steelgoods, bars, | 10 tons | 246 | 6·60 |
| ” | Utrecht | } sheets, rails | 194 | 8·0 | |
Essen | Amsterdam | } | 199 | 8·20 | |
| ” | Rotterdam | } Hardware | 10 tons | 214 | 8·70 |
| ” | Utrecht | } | 162 | 8·50 | |
| ” | Gouda | } | 194 | 9·90 | |
Rotterdam | Dusseldorf | } Coffee, rice, | 10 tons | 234 | 9·20 |
| Utrecht | ” | } currants & sugar | 182 | 10·60 | |
Strasbourg | Rotterdam | } Machinery | 5 tons | 614 | 24·90 |
| ” | Utrecht | } | 571 | 25·60 | |
Mannheim | Rotterdam | } | 499 | 18·40 | |
| ” | Amsterdam | } Grain | 10 tons | 504 | 18·40 |
| ” | Boxtel | } | 408 | 19·40 | |
| ” | Eindhoven | } | 388 | 18·60 | |
Frankfort | Rotterdam | } | 479 | 20· | |
| ” | Arnheim | } Skins | 10 tons | 376 | 23·80 |
| ” | Ede | } | 392 | 24·70 | |
Nuremberg | Flushing | } | 715 | 31·84 | |
| ” | Arnheim | } Toys | 5 tons | 606 | 42·60 |
| ” | Helmund | } | 579 | 40·80 | |
For traffic between Austrian and Hungarian towns and the Dutch ports in certain articles there are also so-called “Seaport transit rates.” For instance, for dried plums, apples and pears from Vienna to Rotterdam, the export rate for lots of 10 tons is m. 41·50 per ton of 1,000 kilogrammes, the local rate being m. 51·60 per ton; for wool from Buda Pesth to Amsterdam the rate per ton of 1,000 kilogrammes in lots of 5 tons, is export m. 67·0, local m. 81·30. These rates are only available for goods destined for export or import; and, as will be seen, they are considerably lower than the rates for the same description of goods for consumers in the port of shipment. There are also exceptional rates for goods traversing Germany to and from the German sea-ports and Austria and Hungary. The following is a comparison between the rates from Bremen to a station on the Danube, and the rates from the latter station to a station situated between that station and the sea-port:—
| Distance in Kilom. | Distance in Miles. | Raw Cotton per 100 ks (2 cwt.) | Tobacco per 100 ks (2 cwt.) | |
| Marks. | Marks. | |||
| Bremen—Regensburg | 683 | 427 | 2·46 | 2·49 |
| Nienburg—Regensburg | 616 | 385 | 2·88 | 3·83 |
Difference in favour of | ||||
| the longer distance | (67) | (42) | 0·42 | 1·34 |
In Holland no scale of rates is universally chargeable. Each railway company is authorised by the Concession under which the railway was constructed, to charge certain specified rates. But, as in England, the existing rates actually charged are generally lower than the maximum; and the fixing of them maybe controlled by the State. By Article 31 of the Dutch Law the railway companies are required to carry all goods (not excluded from transport) and passengers at the rates set forth in the published tariffs, and under the conditions determined by the regulations, without unduly favouring special persons, Societies, Companies, or other bodies. By the existing law the railway companies are forbidden to make special arrangements for carriage at lower rates than those published in the tariffs, except in the following cases:—
(a). For the carriage of large quantities;
(b). For the carriage of one or more truckloads of goods at stated intervals;
(c). For the carriage of goods intended for charitable purposes or for exhibition.
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