Tariff No. 1 Articles of all descriptions up to 5 kilogrammes (11 lbs.) carried by passenger trains. Tariff No. 2 Articles of all descriptions carried by ordinary passenger trains, but chiefly articles of all descriptions up to 200 kilogrammes (4 cwt.) carried by goods trains. Tariff No. 3--Class I.--Goods of all descriptions from 8 cwt. and upwards, conveyed by goods trains. { Certain goods specified in ” II.--{ the classification, in truck ” III.--{ loads of 5 tons. ” IV.--Certain goods specified in the classification in truck loads of 10 tons.
For Tariffs 1, 2, and Class I. of tariff No. 3, there is practically no classification. All goods up to the specified weights are included, without reference to their value or nature. Only in respect of the wagon-load classes of tariff No. 3 does any classification exist. In this classification, which applies to all the Belgian railways, about 639 articles are enumerated. It is assumed to be framed with reference to the value of the goods, the mode of transit, the amount of the company’s responsibility, and the circumstance of the goods being carried in open or covered trucks.
In Holland, the classification is very similar to that which exists in Germany. Goods are divided into two classes, i.e., “_Stückgut_” or “Piece” goods, to which belong all consignments less than 5 tons carried by goods train; and “_Truck Load_” goods, which includes goods in truck loads of 5 or 10 tons, or which pay as for those weights. The “_Stückgut_” class is subdivided into two classes, and the “_Truck Load_” class into four classes. The total number of articles enumerated in the classification is about 242. Although the bases of the tariffs charged for conveyance differ, the classification is practically the same on all the railways in Holland. The following is an example of the classification of goods on the Dutch Rhenish Railway. It will be seen that such articles as coffee, cheese, butter, in consignments of less than 5 tons, are included in the same class as coal, coke, gravel and raw iron; a feature not likely to be imitated by admirers of the “scientific classification” supposed to exist abroad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- | In Lots of |----------------------- DESCRIPTION OF GOODS. | Less | 5 Tons|10 Tons | than | and | and |5 Tons.| above.| above. ----------------------------------------------+-------+-------+------- Bark, asphalt pipes, petroleum, vinegar, clay | | | drain pipes, oils, paper, trees, butter, | | | fresh meat, coffee, spirits, cheese, hair, | | | dyeing earths, pencils, sugar, sumac | II. | A | | | | Raw tobacco, pitch, lithographers’ stone, | | | cabbage and vegetables in bulk, herrings, | | | window glass, dye-woods, cotton yarn, | | | Glauber-salts, soda, cotton twist, wool, jute| II. | B | | | | Raw asphalt, ashes, potato meal, beetroot, | | | seeds, sheet iron, iron pipes, iron wire, | | | lime, linseed, cake, lead, parts of machines,| | | pasteboard, corn and grain, raw sugar, iron | II. | C | | | | Guano, grindstones in the rough, stone | | | troughs, coal tar, worked stones, sleepers, | | | spath millstone, fuel, marble in blocks | II. | D | | | | Raw iron, cast iron, gravel, wood, coal, | | | limestone, pebbles, raw chalk, clay, manure, | | | coal, coke, turf, ore, tiles | II. | D | S R ----------------------------------------------------------------------