The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-22 00:00:00

HACKNEY CARRIAGES.

Mr. FITZROY moved for leave to introduce a bill for
he better regulation of hackney carriages in the metopolis,
and briefly stated his reasons for thinking further legisla-
tion on the subject desirable. The great extent of the
metropolis, and the increase of railway traffic, had ren-
dered hackney carriages an indispensable necessity to its
inhabitants, but in no capital of Europe were such carriages
so entirely removed from all efficient control and super-
vision as in London. He thought this state of things arose
principally from the existing system of licensing these
vehicles. No restrictions were imposed upon the number
of licenses issued; nor was the fitness of the carriages for
the purposes for which they were to be used any part of
the condition upon which the licenses were issued. To a
small extent personal disqualifications existed with regard
to applicants for licenses in the case of convicted thieves
and minors, but these disqualifications were rather nominal
than real. The consequence was, a crowd of vehicles, of
a very inferior description, and with horses that had been
graphically described by our first living novelist as only
kept upon their legs by the rickety vehicles to which they
were attached. (Hear, hear.) It appeared to him (Mr.
Fitzroy) that the shortest way of securing to the inhabi-
tants of this metropolis vehicles in a fit and proper con-
dition for public use would be by entirely altering the
system upon which licenses were issued, and he therefore
proposed to introduce in this bill a provision that every
person desirous of obtaining a license for using, or letting
to hire, a hackney-carriage within the limits of the metro-
politan police district, should make his intention known
to the Commissioners of Police, who should thereupon
cause an inspection of the carriage for which he asked
a license, and upon their :certificate that it was in a fit
and proper condition for public use he should obtain a
license from the Board of Inland Revenue. Power
would also be given to the Commissioners of Police from
time to time to cause a fresh inspection of those carriages,
and if a carriage• should be found out of proper con-
dition the license would be suspended. There would
be a penalty attached to the letting to hire any vehicle
of this description after due notice by the Commissioners
of Police that it was not fit for public use. (Hear, hear.)
But, in addition to the unsatisfactory condition of
these vehicles, the fare demanded for their use was
excessively exorbitant. (Hear, hear.) No change had
been made in that fare since its first introduction in 1831.
Amid the general—he might say universal—tendency
towards reduction in articles of general consumption, two
things had hitherto successfully resisted the tendency. One
was the pint of extraordinary compound still called by
courtesy a bottle of wine at an inn—(hear, hear), and the
other the fare paid per mile for the use of a hack cab.
(Hear, hear.) We were now arrived at a time when there
was every reason for mincing that fare by at least 25 per
cent. ; and he should therefore propose that it be fixed at
6d. -)er mile. (Hear, hear.) Without giving any other
reason, the decrease in the price of forage was alone suffi-
cient to justify this. Oats, which in April, 1831, cost
235. 10d., were now at 19s. Bd., having fallen between 20
and 25 per cent. (Hear, hear.) But, independent of the
exorbitant amount of the fare, there were great objections
to its nature, in consequence of the broken money involved
in the question. If you took a cab for a mile, you hardly
dare meet the torrent of abuse that would be levelled at
you if you failed to pay the driver Is —(hear, hear), and
tho consequence was, that instead of M. the fare was Is.
—(hear, hear) ; besides whiich, the hirers had no satisfac-
tory means of ascertaining the distance they were taken.
(Hear.) He proposed, therefore, that the Commissioners
of Police should, wherever they conveniently could, upon
the stand cause some notice on a board to be put up, as at
many railway stations, specifying the distance from that
stand to the places most likely to be resorted to, and that
they be authorised to appoint men at the different stands
who should be furnished with lists signed by the Commis-
sioners of Police, and whose duty should be, on applica-
tion, to inform the hirer the amount of fare to which he
would be liable. (Hear, hear.) This would tend much to
the convenience of ladies and others who used cabs and
were at present subject to imposition. (Hear, hear.) The
reduction of fare would be no great hardship upon the
proprietors. The expense of forage had been already men-
tioned ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained in
his financial statement that upon the passing of this bill he
would reduce the charge for licenses to cab proprietors.
Independent of the original license, which was to be charged
from Di. to 11, per annum, the license now charged 10s.