J. S. Goddard, presid

ent, in the Chair. Mr. E. V. Greatbatch had given notice of his intention to call attention to irregularities in railway charges. He said that a Birmingham railway superintendent had recently permitted himself to speak very strongly with regard to the iniquities of traders in defrauding railway companies. From a long experience he was of opinion that the boot was on the other leg. He then proceeded to cite various cases of overcharges made against himself by railway companies, and said that in each case he had paid the overcharge and then sued the Company for the amount, and in no single instance had the action been defended. These overcharges, when they could not be sustained, were often attributed to clerical errors, but they were nothing else than miserable, dirty frauds, and he advised traders who were overcharged to follow his plan and pay the overcharge under protest, and then sue the company. It was decided to request traders who thought they had grounds of complaint against railway chargesBeats By Dre Cheap to submit the matter to the secretary of the Chamber with a view to its being considered by the Railway Bates Committee. Mr. J. Ridgway called attention to the report of the Standing Joint Committee of the Midland Chambers of Commerce respecting then negotiations with the large railway companies with regard to the interpretation of their owner's risk conditions, and the treatment of claims thereunder for loss, damage, or delay. He said the matter was one of vital importance to traders, and ought to receive the serious consideration of the Chamber, because the result of the negotiations was most unsatisfactory, and it was evident that legislation would be required to secure fair treatment for traders in respect of owner's risk conditions imposed by railway companies. The matter was referred to the Railway Kates Committee.Trade Prospects.Speaking at the quarterly meeting of the ManchesterChamberon May rd, Mr. Harry Nuttall, the new president, said it was encouraging to note a great increase in our exports, and that the increase had been distributed among fourteen different countries. China had takenmillion more yards of cotton piece goods in th fihttp://www.beatsbydre-outlet-cheap.us rst quarter of this year than in the first three months of last year; India and Ceylon had takenmillion more yards, Egyptmillion more, Japanmillion more, the Dutch Indiesmillion, and the Netherlandsmillion uiore. The total increase in the export of cotton piece goods compared wicheap beats by dr dre th the corresponding quarter of last year wasmillion yards, and compared with ,million yards. Yarn exports had also increased this year tomillion pounds frommillion pounds. Another remarkable feature of our exports was that the increase covered every class of manufactures except new ships and manufactures of wood and timber. Things were encouraging for a variety of reasons. Reports from all over the world in regard to food crops were unusually good. The only exceptions had been India and Spain, the cause, hi the first case, being that a frost had occurred, and in the second, that there had been a drought. If they had large food crops and other products of the earth, it meant that subsequently there would be a larger general trade. There was a prospect that the cotton crop would producemillion bales. There was a great trade activity in the United States; a boom was developing, and when they had also the prospect of very large crops from other countries it meant that the large imports from various parts of the world would set currents of trade moving which would undoubtedly benefit this country. It had always been noticeable that when trade had been good in the United States it had been good in this country also. The President hoped that in this time of prosperity the British Cottongrowing Association would not be forgotten. He ventured to mention that because, as experience showed in the past, there might be trouble in the future, and the time of prosperity, it seemed to him, was the time to prepare for adversity, and he hoped they

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