" Thus Parliament, yielding to
popular clamour, stultified itself, and in feverish haste to placate an
angry and noisy public tied the hands of the railway companies, doing, I
believe, more harm than good. This legislation naturally made the
companies very cautious in reducing a rate because of the difficulties to
be encountered should circumstances require them to raise it again, and
railway rates thus lost that element of elasticity and adaptability so
essential to the development of trade. Many a keen and enterprising
business man have I heard lament the restrictions that Parliament imposed
and declare that such interference with the freedom of trade was short-
sighted in the extreme and bad for the country.
Immediately after the passing of the Act of 1888 the railway companies
vigorously attacked the work imposed upon them. A special meeting on the
subject was held at the Irish Railway Clearing House in Dublin for the
purpose of preparing a revised Classification and Schedule of Rates. This
was a rare opportunity for me and I eagerly availed myself of it. Before
I left Glasgow it will be remembered I had been entrusted with an
examination of the statutory charging powers of the Glasgow and South-
Western company, and with the drawing up of a suggested scale of maximum
rates.
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