The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-28 00:00:00

LONDO2

'T CABS.

Yesterday the metropolis stood, as Sir Charles
Wetherell once phrased it, in a "parenthesis of vehicu-
larity." There was not only a dearth, but an absolute
famine of locomotion, and never since the days of
Charles IL, when hackney coaches were first invented,
have the sight-seeing and out-going public been reduced
to such an extremity of helplessness as the cabmen's
"strike" of yesterday. For once the magistrates who
fine, and the Legislature who settle the fares of "cabby,"
have been defeated. One man may take a horse to
water, but a hundred can't make him drink. Mr.
Fitzroy may ordain what " cabby" shall charge, but the
whole House of Commons can't make him drive. The
grievance that has so wrung the o'erfraught breast of
" cabby," as to make him declare "a holiday" is not so
much the lowering the rate of charge per mile to six-
pence, instead of eightpence, as the abolition of back
fares ; and the compromise desired, is said to be that
this back fare may be charged for distances of three,
miles beyond some fixed spot after nightfall. " Cabby'
complains, and with some justice, that by the new
system he starts from an ever-shifting centre to an
ever-receding point of distance, and may be com-
pelled to travel anywhere, at any time, six miles
from himself. "Cabby" wants something settled,
even if it be nothing more than the restoration of that
indefinite fixture, known during the last half century
as "the place where Hicks's-hall formerly stood." He
objects to being taken from Waterloo-bridge to Dulwich
at two o'clock in the morning, for half-a-crown ; or from
Tottenham-court-road to Southall for five and sixpence.
So " cabby" resolved to " play," and determined to give
labour a holiday, after the fashion of the Lancashire
Chartist rioters in 1838. The cab proprietors gave their
men notice simultaneously not to call at their stables after
Tuesday, and yesterday morning the sun rose on a city
without cabs. The first to feel the inconvenience was
the traveller by early trains, into and out of London,
who found himself three or four miles from everywhere,
with a leather trunk, a hat-box, a carpet bag, fishing-
rod, umbrella, and waterproof coat to carry. As the
day progressed, the desire for cabs became more urgent;
people found themselves at a full stop without knowing
why. There was no " going to my banker's," or " call
in the City," or " take a cab to the railway." The rail-
ways suffered the greatest possible inconvenienc. At
every station piles of luggage waiting conveyance, and
mobs of jeering bystanders advising the calling of a cab
that would not come, confronted the impatient traveller.
Even the highest aristocracy did not escape the com-
mon fate. Unless met by their " own carriage," they
were compelled to trudge it on foot for long dis-
tances, and several instances of ladies of high de-
gree in a state of comparative exhaustion were ob-
served by the writer. At none of the railways was
the inconvenience greater felt than at the London
and North-Western. Train after train brought
an accumulation of luggage, and each hour added to the
harassing of impatient passengers from all parts of the
country. Fortunately, the day was fine, and the ap-
pliances of a railway are so multifarious that they can
be expanded to meet almost every possible emergency.
Cabs being altogether wanting, the railway authorities,
by going a step lower in the scale, were enabled in some
measure to meet the contingency. Spring vans for the
accommodation of the heavier luggage, light carts, and
even wheel-barrows for the immediate urgency of single
passengers, were pressed into service, and by the active
employment of the energies of all the officials, the diffi-
culties were considerably diminished. How long this
state of things may continue will perhaps depend on the
manner with which a scanty Sunday's dinner may be
received by the cabman's family. It is said the frater
nity are in a position to hold out until Monday. Whe-
ther this will really be so must depend much upon what
takes place in the House of Commons. Whatever be
the result, unless the act be materially altered; there
seems much reason to suppose that it will become im-
mediately obsolete, as was the case half a century since
with that by which it was attempted to settle the water-
men's fares.

MEETING OF CAB PROPRIETORS.
Yesterday afternoon a numerous meeting of cab pro-
prietors, convened by advertisement, took place at the
National Hall, High Holborn, to consider the steps

necessary to be taken under the present circumstances
of the trade ; the proprietor of the Harp Cab Company,
Manchester-square, in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said they
were met to consider their position, suffering under a
most oppressive and unjust act of both Houses of Par-
liament, as must be known to those who read the reports
of what had recently taken place in the police-courts,
and especially of one case, that of Phillips, at the Bow-
street court. The act of which they complained had
been made by country gentlemen and Manchester men,
not one of whom could give an idea as to the working
expenses of a cab, and was introduced by a Ministry
guided by public opinion, having no merits of its own,
contrary to the expressed wish of the whole trade, and
to the estimate which they gave of their expenses.
(Hear, hear.) The Parliament could not know the loss

of horses to which cab proprietors were exposed, espe-
cially in winter, when a 251. horse might be kept stand-
ing for hours at a corner and die next day from cold.
(Hear, hear.) Why, he had known a proprietor to lose

120 horses in a year and a half, out of a stock of 60 or
80. (Hear, hear.) He knew another case, of a proprietor
who had sent 45 horses to the slaughter in six months.
(Hear, hear, hear.) The hackney-cab proprietors were
not really an united trade. (Cheers.) Three months
ago, before that unjust and tyrannical law was at-
tempted, they were endeavouring to cut each other's
throats by competition, but now they would stick to-

nether. (Cheers.) Alen had been in the trade for twenty-
five years, and had scraped a little independence together,
and now it was to be swept away by the act ; for their
business could not be carried on, and their property
could not be sold, as horses were now worth 5/. each
less than they were a fortnight ago. (Hear, hear.)

They had given the bill a fair trial ; they had tried it for
a fortnight, and found that it could not be carried on.
(Cheers.) They were told they might keep three horses,

but they knew that three horses could not be supported
at present prices. (Hear, hear.) Those who were there
knew that a time was coming, the winter, when the
driver would not be able to earn sufficient for himself,

without carrying anything home. Cabs would then
remain on the stands for hours, and then be taken off
for sixpence. (Hear.) The Government, however,
were beginning to find it out, for that afternoon Mr.
Fitzroy had sent a messenger in a great hurry to say
that the house had already voted a shilling beyond the
fare when the cab was four miles from the General
Post-office. (Cheers.) He (the chairman) was himself
at a railway station that afternoon, where he saw ladies
and children crying and going on in a way that no man
could wish to see ; but the Government had said that in
all great improvements there must be suffering, and they
must not be blamed if, in the endeavour to obtain their
rights, they were obliged to oppress the females to-day.
(Hear, hear.) He hoped, however, that it would not
last, but that the Government would so alter the bill
that they might go on ; but they would not go to work
again until they could have such regulations as they
could live under. (Cheers.)
Mr. BEADLE moved as the first resolution, "That
for any distance within, and not exceeding two miles,
the fare shall be ls." The people of London and the
Government had not expected to see that unity in the
cab trade which they now saw. (Hear, hear.) For his
own part, lie thought the public had no occasion to
grumble at the construction of cabs now, when com-
pared with those used in 1820, and even in 1830. A
good deal was said about cab companies, but he would
like to ask any commercial man what dividend was ever
derived from a cab company ever started ? (Cheers.)
All the cab companies had parted, and he did not know
how people could be such egregious fools as to invest
their money in cab companies or the cab business with
prices at 6d. a mile. (Hear.) He was asked what he
had stopped at home for ? and he gave this answer—
that he had tried to conform to the low fare, and found
he could riot do it. Look at the money lost within the
last fortnight by men who had come into the business
with a large capital, and found they could not get one
per cent. for it. (Hear, hear.) They were dependent
on the public, and he thought it a great pity that they
should inconvenience that portion of the public who were
their supporters ; but at the same time he thought that
it would be thought they were only acting like English-
men, standing up for their honour and liberties. (Hear.)
It was time to show, and they would that day show,
that they were men, and determined to do their duty to
themselves and the community. The gentlemen who
sat at the Cranbourne-hotel had endeavoured to show
the Government that they could not live under the law ;
but they had met with few friends in the house, except
Sir R. Inglis, Lord D. Stuart, and Mr. Bonham Carter,
whose names, he hoped, would never be effaced from
their memories. (Cheers, and cries of " Mr. Bright.")
Yes, Mr. Bright had spoken for them, but he had only
met sneers and jeers from those very men who now said
that changes must be made in the bill before they came
to work it. He understood that a certain gentleman,
who lived in Park-lane, said that threepence
was enough
got
turned half-a-mile. (Laughter, and a voice, "He has
ot
turned out of Parliament for bribery.") Why, be would
ask them—would any of them have been there then if
they could have done it at sixpence a mile ? (No, no.)
The resolution which he had moved contained the first
change for which they wished • and when a cab cost
50?., a horse 201., and harness Si., besides the Stamp-
office, he would ask whether any man could object to
pay one shilling for the use of a separate carriage ?
(Hear, hear.) They were now entitled to charge six-
pence a mile, but the return in reality brought it down
to threepence. (Hear, hear.) That very day their
movement had been referred to in the House of Com-
mons (the speaker here read Mr. Fitzroy's statement, and
he would like to know whether any other trade in that
country had been so soon taken notiee of by Government
under such circumstances. (Hear.) They had com-
menced a good work well, and let them finish it well, and
keep their cabs at home till they got the resolution as a
clause in the act. (Cheers.) If the public could do
without them, they could do without the public. Their
horses and cabs would fetch money in any part of the
country ; and if gentlemen wished to start cab compa-
nies, they would drive for them. (Cheers.)
Mr. GAMBLE seconded the resolution.
Mr. MINDON moved, as an amendment, " That the
fare for the first mile be ls. ; exceeding one mile and
under two miles, ls. 6d. ; two miles and under three,
2s. ; three miles and under four, 2s. 6d. ; and for every
additional mile or fraction of a mile, ls."
Mr. RYDER, as the representative of a committee of
cab owners sitting at the Cranbourne Hotel, supported
the original resolution ; but thought it better respect-
fully to memorialise Parliament for a redress of griev-
ances than to enter into details.
After a rather disorderly discussion, the original mo,
tion was put to the meeting, and declared to be carried