Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: rejected, fuller information than we possess is wanted. It is twenty years since the question was authoritatively considered. In the meantime the circumstances of both industry and railways have undergone momentous changes. The development of State railways abroad has A Royal Commis- steadily proceeded. The inquiries which have been sion pro- made since 1865 have been confined to the incidence of rates and other cognate matters. More extensive investigation is desirable, and it would be well if the Government, which has been styled " the Government of Eoyal Commissions," would recommend the Queen to appoint one to inquire into the subject of State purchase of railways in all its bearings. Great Britain cannot easily settle her future rail- Growth Of J State rail- Way policy without reference to other European ays- systems. We may resolve on non-intervention in political affairs, and may try to hold an isolated position while the whole continent is oppressed by military taxation or convulsed by war, but we cannot safely carry that policy into commerce. Both our foreign and home trade are attacked by the transport systems of the Continent. Belgium and Germany are competing in our markets and are constantly obtaining advantages over us by new communications, new engineering triumphs over natural obstacles and new conventions for transit rates. Unless we are prepared to surrender our European trade without a struggle we cannot remain indifferent to the policy they are pursuing. What that would mean may be understood from the fact that three-fifths of all our exports go to Europe. It does not follow that if we examine continental methods we need accept them with servility or in detail. There is no occasion for us to adopt protective tariffs. We can compete with...