ROADS AND RAIL

CO-ORDINATION.

exceeded the estimates by no less than twenty-five per cent. Experience in India since the earliest days of railway construction goes to show that the rural population is very ready to take full advantage of opportunities for transport by rail, whether of passengers or of goods. 312. In the development of communications generally, railways and roads should be regarded as complementary each to WAYS: A POLICY OF the other. The road system links up the cultivator's holding with the local markets and the nearest railway station, while the railway provides the connecting links between the area of production and consumers at a distance, and between the manufacturer in the town and the cultivator who purchases his ploughs, his fertilisers, or his cloth. Without good and sufficient roads, no railway can collect for transport enough produce to render its operations profitable, while the best of roads cannot place the producer of crops destined for markets overseas or in distant parts of the sub-continent in touch with the consumer. We trust that it may be found possible in the future to avoid in India the senseless and wasteful competition between rail and motor traffic that is to-day taking place in many European countries. We apprehend that, where roads exist parallel to railways, it may be difficult to arrange for a policy of co-operation between the two forms of transport. But, in planning new programmes of road and railway extensions, we hope that roads may be designed to serve rather as feeders of the railways than as competitors for such traffic as the railway is capable of carrying efficiently and economically. We think it probable that conditions of weather in India, which combine extreme dryness for many months of the year with continuous and heavy rainfall concentrated in a shorter period, may be found to render the maintenance of roads capable of carrying heavy motor traffic extremely expensive. In many parts of the country, the dearth of good road-making material is likely seriously to aggravate these difficulties. For these reasons, we hold that every attempt should be made to avoid the transport over long distances, by road, of passenger and goods traffic which could be carried by rail more cheaply and with equal convenience. It may be held that road transport will not attract traffic unless this can be carried as cheaply as on the railways. The fact is, however, that, whereas the railways have to pay for the whole cost and upkeep of their permanent way, the motor car, in too many instances, depends to a great extent for the financing of its "permanent way" upon the pockets of the tax-payers. From the national point of view, needlessly expensive transportation is to be deprecated as involving avoidable destruction of wealth, and this is true whether the cost is defrayed from private or public sources.

FREIGHT RATES.

313. The question of freight rates was raised by several witnesses. There has been practically no increase in the rates on agricultural produce since 1913, in spite of the value during the last fourteen years, more end of the war period, and the fact that the prices of all forms of produce, with the exception of raw jute, are still markedly above the pre-war level. Freight rates are ordinarily the heaviest single addition to the prime cost of produce exported by rail

great rise in its especially at the

from the area of production. In a competitive market, they amount to a heavy charge on the gross price ultimately paid for the produce and, to the cultivator who is selling his commodity at a distance, they amount to a substantial proportion of the price he receives at the place of sale. A comparatively small difference in rates may mean the closing of important markets to a crop grower in any particular area and a consequent loss to the cultivators and the railways. We are not inclined to accept the view that rates are generally too high, but we recommend a periodical revision of rates with a view to the adjustment of their incidence as between various sorts of produce according to their relative ability to bear and that arrangements should be made by the Railway Board for this purpose.

We have dealt with freight rates, in so far as they affect the cost to the agriculturist of his fertilisers and implements, in Chapter IV. We have there suggested that the railway authorities should consider whether further concessions might not be given in respect of these as any considerable increase in crop yields, resulting from their use, must eventually lead to an increase in traffic and thus benefit the railways concerned. An anomaly in regard to the rates on agricultural implements, which was brought to our notice and appears deserving of examination is the classification of sugarcane mills, which are not at present included under agricultural implements. A point raised by the Imperial Dairy Expert was that the railways charged the same amount for the carriage of a newly born calf by passenger train as is charged for a full grown cow and that this constituted a hardship to the Indian cattle trade as Indian cows are useless as milkers unless accompanied by their calves. Newly born calves can take up but little space and we consider that a calf aged one month or under should not be charged for when travelling with its dam.

314. It was further suggested that the railway authorities should take

THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRUIT AND MILK TRAFFIC.

active steps to encourage the development of traffic in certain kinds of agricultural produce. Fruit and milk were the two products most prominently mentioned in this connection. It does not appear to us that the railways can justly be accused of any lack of enterprise in respect of either of these or of any unwillingness to meet their special transport requirements. Ice-cooled vans for the carriage of the more delicate kinds of fruits have already been brought into use, chiefly on the North-Western Railway. The extensive employment of refrigerator or cold-storage vans for this form of traffic must depend on the extent to which it develops and on the establishment of cold-storage depôts at suitable centres. We trust that railway administrations will continue to pursue a liberal and progressive policy in providing the facilities required. In the initial stages of the development of an industry such as fruit growing, the agricultural departments should interpret to the railway authori ties the requirements of the growers in the matter of facilities on the railways, such as special vans, rapid transit, and accommodation at terminal points. When this is done, and provided it is clear that the

venture offers firm prospects of profitable traffic within a reasonable period of time, we have no doubt that the railway authorities will do their best to meet the needs of the industry.

CATTLE.

315. There is, however, one point in connection with railway transport THE TRANSPORT OF which, in our view, calls for immediate examination by the railway authorities. It appears that, owing to the high rates which are charged for the transport of cattle by passenger or parcel express trains, they are usually sent by slow goods trains and frequently in badly ventilated and unsuitable trucks. The only provision on the subject at present is a railway rule that at the request and risk of owners, cattle, after travelling for 200 miles, may be unloaded at a junction or other first class station and allowed to break journey for not more than 24 hours. We think that this rule in its present permissive form is probably an insufficient safeguard. We, therefore, recommend that the Railway Board should investigate its working and make suitable amendments, if it appears that cruelty to cattle, if not permanent injury, may result from present conditions. We should ourselves see no objection to its being made a definite responsibility of the owner that cattle should be rested and fed at fixed intervals en route provided that the railways on their part supply reasonable facilities. We would further suggest that the feasibility of transporting all milch cattle by passenger or parcel express train at the rates at present charged for their carriage by goods train, and also of improving the type of wagon used for the transport of all cattle, should be investigated. In existing conditions, a large number of good milch cows are imported into Calcutta and Bombay by milk vendors who sell them for slaughter at the end of the lactation period as they cannot afford to stall feed them until they calve again or to send them back to the districts. In such circumstances, any measures which facilitated the rapid transport of cattle at reasonable rates would furnish a valuable contribution to the solution of some of the problems connected with animal husbandry which we have discussed in Chapter VII.

CO-OPERATION BE

DEPARTMENTS.

316. We consider that closer co-operation between the railway and agricultural departments would be secured if the TWEEN THE RAILWAY Director of Agriculture, or preferably the marketing AND AGRICULTURAL officer whose appointment we suggest later in this chapter, were a member of the local advisory committee which has been constituted for all the important railway systems. Individual cultivators are not in a position to use the machinery provided by the Railway Rates Advisory Committee or to bring to the notice of the railway authorities any disability under which they labour in respect of such matters as shortage of wagons, pilfering en route or the rough handling of goods in transit. The presence on an advisory committee of an officer with special knowledge of marketing conditions would provide a very suitable channel for the ventilation of complaints of the latter character. It would also be an important part of the duties of that officer to secure the removal of anomalies in rates for agricultural products.

TRANSPORT.

317. The high cost of constructing and maintaining metalled roads OTHER FORMS OF for heavy traffic has led to the suggestion that a less expensive alternative to the metalled road could be found in an agricultural tramway which might actually prove a source of profit. The agricultural tramway is, in effect, a cheap type of railway built under the Indian Tramways Act of 1886 or a provincial Act and subject to the control of the provincial Government instead of that of the Government of India. The possibilities of this form of transport have been examined in some detail in the Punjab. The view there held is that, within the twelve mile radius which represents the limits within which agricultural produce flows easily to a market centre, direct marketing in the cultivator's own cart is quicker and also, if allowance is made for double handling, cheaper for all except the few villages situated on the tramway. Outside the twelve mile radius, the tramway offers no advantages which could not be better secured by railway development. The conclusion which has been reached is that, provided new railways develop along the lines and to the extent at present anticipated, no case can be made out for the introduction of tramways to develop rural transport. We entirely agree with this view in provinces where conditions are similar to the Punjab. There are, however, districts where good roads may be specially difficult to maintain and to which railway extension in the near future is unlikely. We have in view such conditions as occur in the Brahmaputra Valley or in the plains of Lower Burma.

It does not appear that the introduction of the caterpillar or so-called "roadless tractor would be of any material assistance in opening up rural areas. It is admitted that even for this the condition of all village roads and of many district roads would have to be improved and that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to provide a service on which the cultivator or the village trader could rely to transport his produce at the precise moment when he wished to market it. We are strongly of opinion, therefore, that, except in the special circumstances mentioned above, the most urgent need is to improve roads, in order, in the first place, to cheapen and facilitate carriage by cart and, in the second, to render a great extension of motor services possible. Local governments will, in our view, be well advised to devote their whole attention to the needs of the country cart and of the motor car or lorry in preference to experimenting with other forms of road transport. This applies even to mountainous districts where the production of fruit, potatoes and garden crops is seriously handicapped by bad and expensive transport. We recognise that the improvement of road communications in such areas must involve a much heavier outlay than in the plains but we have very grave doubts whether any project for opening them up by ærial ropeways could be carried to a satisfactory conclusion.

318. Waterways are a valuable and extensively used means of communication in north-eastern India and Burma.

WATERWAYS. The only point brought prominently to our notice

in connection with them was the extent to which their use is hampered

by the spread of the water hyacinth in Assam, Bengal and Burma. This pest is most serious in Bengal where it not only completely blocks the smaller waterways and renders the navigation of the larger ones very difficult, but spreads during the monsoon to cultivated land which it drives out of cultivation. We were informed that an estimate that about three per cent of the occupied land in the Faridpur district was lying derelict from this cause was a reasonable one. In Madras, the water hyacinth is dealt with under the provisions of the Agricultural Pests and Diseases Act of 1919, and, in Burma and Assam, under those of the Water Hyacinth Acts of 1917 and 1926 respectively. No special legislation has been enacted in Bengal where it is most needed. The Assam legislation is of very recent date and we received no evidence as to how far it is serving its purpose. The operations against the pest in Madras appear to have been successful whilst we were informed that, in Burma, the position is practically stationary. We consider it most desirable that legislation on the lines of that in force in other provinces should be enacted immediately in Bengal and that the operations against the pest should be conducted by the Waterways and Navigation Department, the formation of which we have suggested in the preceding chapter. It is open to doubt, however, whether legislation prescribing the destruction of the water hyacinth, or measures to prevent its spread such as the construction of storage pounds or floating fences, will prove more than a palliative. Research into the possibilities of eradicating it by the adoption of scientific methods such as spraying and the utilisation of insect, fungus and bacteriological enemies of the pest has not so far yielded any tangible results. Further research is urgently needed and, in view of the fact that the pest has appeared on an extensive scale in four provinces, we consider that the formulation of a programme for work of this character should be one of the first questions to be taken up by the Council of Agricultural Research.

POST AND TELEGRAPH OFFICES.

as

319. The evidence we received showed that the post and telegraph facilities available in rural areas are, on the whole, satisfactory as can be expected in present conditions. Any great expansion in these facilities must wait upon the spread of literacy. Posts and telegraphs, like railways, are a central subject but their development, in common with that of railways, is a matter in which provincial governments are closely interested and it is desirable that their views regarding the action to be taken to promote it should be respected as far as possible. The point is of importance in connection with the establishment of new offices. These are opened only if estimated to prove remunerative or if the local Government guarantee that a certain minimum revenue will be forthcoming. The guarantee is given in respect of each new office opened but it should, in our opinion, be permissible for the local Government to set off the profits of one office against the loss from another and to give their guarantee in respect of a number of offices for a term of years. The Posts and Telegraphs Department would then be concerned only with the return from all the new offices for the period fixed. The adoption of this course should lead to an appreciable increase in the activities of the