in any case, however, there is one distinction between land 
transport by road or rail, and sea transport. 
The former is a ‘ sheltered” industry. It is not compelled 
to compete with foreign transport. 
Sea transport is in a different category. It is immediately in 
competition with German, French, Dutch, American, Italian and 
other sea transport. It will therefore be examined separately. 
Land Transport. 
It is important to realise that the cost of transport is “ cumu- 
lative ”, that is to say, it increases all through the process from the 
time when the first ton of coal is put on the railway until the 
engineering product reaches the consumer. 
The needs of the Railways are very largely engineering and, 
necessarily, if engineering costs are increased they must charge more 
for their products and so the charges which the railways make 
are thereby increased. 
On the other hand, the railways—though they have no real 
foreign competition—cannot eventually do other than lose by loss 
of trade in the engineering industry. They will have fewer engineer- 
ing products to carry and also fewer of the raw materials needed 
by engineering. Therefore their own fixed charges, those of which 
they cannot diminish the total, will be spread over a smaller amount 
of goods carried, and the cost of carrying those goods be so much 
higher. Thus engineering and transport affect each other. 
It should be pointed out that railway freight charges on 
industrial goods have increased about 60 per cent. since the war. 
The effect of such an increase on the cost of engineering goods 
can readily be understood, particularly having regard to the 
cumulative effect which has been already referred to. 
In 1913, the railways carried on an average in each month 
about 30,740,000 tons, at a total cost to customers of about 
£5,360,000. Since 1927, they have never reached that figure. 
In July, 1930, the total dropped as low as 24,480,000 tons and 
the receipts therefrom to £8,200,000.