Mr. Oliver Mason.—p. 70.
1. Where do you live?
At Great Malvern.
2. Where have you resided principally?
For the last twenty-three years at Birmingham.
3. Were you high bailiff for Birmingham last year?
I was.
4. How many years have you been a merchant at Birmingham?
Twenty-three years.
8. Do you think that increased communication between Birmingham and London would be a great advantage to the merchants?
Yes; we should experience great benefit as merchants. We are often put to great loss, and cannot execute orders, by not getting them up in sufficient time. If you lose the opportunity of shipping by a vessel that sails only once a year from a port you lose the order. I have experienced considerable difficulty by that. The correspondent says, if you can ship my goods by such a vessel, send me the order; and if you cannot get them ready you lose in the trade.
9. Do you consider the canal and waggon communication sufficient to enable the merchants to execute their orders with promptitude and certainty?
As to canal communication, there is great inconvenience from stoppages. I remember an instance in which I engaged to ship a quantity of goods to London, and I had an action brought against me for the freight of those goods, which were detained by a stoppage in the canal, and I was called on to pay the freight.
10. In addition to that, the goods were returned on your hands?
Of course they were.
16. If the celerity of delivery was increased by a Railroad communication, would that be an advantage in your competition with the foreigner?
It would be a great benefit to the manufacturer.
54. Do you know, of your own knowledge, that you did lose orders in consequence of the length of time it took to send your goods from Birmingham to London. Liverpool, or any other place of shipment?
I think there were three instances; one about a week before Christmas; we had three instances in which we might have executed orders for 1500l, if we could have executed them in time for shipment.