The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-04 00:00:00

THE CABMAN'S CASE.

The cabmen met last night in Exeter Hall to
concert measures to procure amendment of those
clauses of the Street Act of last session which affect
them. They filled the hall in every part, and. the
chairman, Mr. Gower, of Barbican, congratulating
them on their numbers, told them that the hall was
calculated -" to carry" upwards of 5,000 persons.
Large numbers of men were unable to gain ad-
mission, and these were conducted by a driver
well known among them to Trafalgar-square, and
there harangued from the pedestal of Nelson's
column. The meeting in the hall was kept in ex-
cellent order by a number of men stationed in
the gangways, who, acting promptly on the hint
from the chairman, stayed any too extravagant
exhibitions of feeling ; indeed, the only disturbance
throughout the evening arose from the summary
ejectment of a not very sober cab proprietor from
the platform in consequence of his persistent deter-
mination to speak. The cabmen's grievance as dis-
closed in the course of the evening resolved itself
into three points—the duty, which was declared
exorbitant ; the mileage, which was pronounced
insufficient ; and the lamps, which were altogether
objected to. Resolutions were come to urging the
necessity of amendments in each of these respects,
and mention was made by some of the speakers of
certain minor grievances, such as the payment by the
cab proprietors of £12,000 a year to the railway
companies for permission to enter the stations ; this
charge they required should be altogether abolished.
Another matter of great interest was the supervision
exercised by Scotland-yard. As the secretary put
it, " We don't want a strike; it costs us too much;
but the giving of more power to Scotland-yard, that
we cannot stand." The anger of the cabmen at Sir
Richard Mayne broke out on every possible occa-
sion ; they seemed to look upon him as the cause of
all their troubles, real and imaginary, and when one
of the speakers demanded the reason why unclaimed
lost property should not revert to the cabman as it
remained in the hands of the railway companies,
their indignation with the police could with diffi-
culty be suppressed.
The first question touched on was that of the
duty, and 11r. BALDWIN, an old proprietor, moved
the resolution against it. He stated that in round
numbers the cabman paid £2O a year duty for every
£5O worth of property he worked. The £2O was
made up of £lB ss. a year duty and £1 a year for
licence ; and £5O represented the average price of a
cab and horse. The post-horse masters could keep
their carriages and four horses for £l5 a year duty ;
three cabs and only three horses cost a cab pro-
prietor £54 155., the newly-imposed lamps would
cost £2l more, so that the case stood in this way—
£7s 15s. for the cab proprietor as against £l5 for
the postmaster.
Mr. COCIIRANE, the seconder of the resolution,
pointed out that the cab proprietors paid £122,040
a year in taxes, a sum which would take the Abys-
sinian expedition a long way towards King Theo-
dore. Ile then stated his own case. lie and his
partner owned 14 cabs, and they paid four times as
much in the form of duty as in rental, and twice as
much as they both received out of the business. In
1865 they took £2,677 14s. 2d., and spent £2,668
10s. 21d., including 255. a week each for their work
of 14 hours a day. The balance left them £9 4s. to
divide at the end of the year as the profit on the
working of £BOO worth of property. In 1866 they
took £2,781 13s. 2fd., and spent £2,722 11s. 6id.,
leaving a balance of £l2 profit above the 255. a
week each. He looked upon a cab as much a
mcessity as tea, wine, tobacco, insurance policies,
or as omnibuses, and asked for a reduction of duty.
With reference to the general question he endorsed
Mr. Cole's expression of opinion at the Society of
Arts that fares should be left for the public to settle
and that the public should be the inspectors. Then
he dealt with the arguments used iu the House of
Commons in 1853 by Mr. Fitzroy, in whose honour
they had christened sixpences " Fitzes." Mr. Fitz-
roy had urged the introduction of the Gd. because
it was seldom gentlemen had change, and they would
in that case be obliged to give a shilling, and he had
suggested that the cabman could well afford that
reduction, because while oats were at 235. 10d. in
1831, when the eightpenny tariff was fixed in 1853
they were only 19s. Bd. To-day, however, oats
were 295. Gd. The cabmen of Liverpool and Bir-
mingham had a shilling. How much more then
should the men of London, with their heavier
taxes ? And as for the Paris cabmen, he had been
told that it gave one the itch to ride in their
vehicles after a London hansom. He didn't believe
there were any such whips iu the world as those on
the London hansoms, who, in case of need, could
carry a gentleman from London-bridge to Padding-
ton in half an hour. They only wanted paying,
and it was a mistake to suppose that they were best
paid in the West-end ;he could state as a fact that
when the House was sitting some members " Nould
actually walk to Coekspur-street to get a cab to the
Conservative for Gd." _ _

Lord ELcito, who had shortly before arrived, was
then introduced by the Chairman ; he was received
with rounds of cheers, and, in the first place, ex-
plained why he had come, in order that it might
not be thought he was popularity hunting. The
other day a cabman who drove him to Kensington
Museum asked for his support, and the conversation
which ensued led to an interview the next day be-
tween him and three representatives of the cabmen,
at which he promised to see Mr. Hardy. He saw
him on Friday night, and expressed his opinion that
the duty was already too heavy, without having the
cost of the lamp added to it ; that the matter had
been decided too hastily last session ; and that the
whole question of metropolitan traffic required
further consideration. This was necessary, not only
because of the present hitch, but for other reasons.
There were some who could afford not more than
6d., although a cab wasat times absolutely necessary
to them ; but the question did not affect the poor
only : all classes had to be considered, and the want
of molly was a conveyance better than a sixpenny

cab, and less costly than a half-guinea brougham.
Whether free trade would supply this was a subject
for inquiry. He therefore recommended Mr. Hardy
to get the cab clauses in Ike Street Act of last ses-
sion suspended until a committee of the Ilouse of
Commons had considered the whole subject, and
recommended a course satisfactory to the public,
the proprietors, and the drivers. On Monday the
s•:crctary waited on him again, and he asked whether
the committee would allow things to go on as usual
if Mr. Hardy would agree, if possible, to secure the
suspension of the clauses. The secretary could not
promise this, but believed the committee wculd
consent. Ile saw Mr. Hardy last evening, %%WI
Lord Derby; and, although they could not give a
decisive answer upon the subject., they empowered
him to say they would receive a deputation, of
say three drivers and three proprietors, to-day at 1
1 o'clock. He would introdUce the deputation, and
perhaps before that time the Government would
have made up its mind about the matter. He had
no authority for saying so, but be believed the an-
swer would be favourable. He urged upon Mr.
Hardy on the principle that sauce to the goose is
sauce to the gander, that if cabs were compelled to
use lamps, lamps also should be _carried by Pick-
ford's vans and gentlemen's carriages. The custom
of carrying lights in France was not confined to
Paris, or to carriages, but extended throughout the
country, and to all descriptions of vehicle ; even the
common country carte carried lights. In conclu-
sion; he notidectllfati -the .resrfintiont-- chtegectthe
Legislature with " bungling," and recommended
the cabmen " to resist the law ;" he suggested that,
in order to avoid offence, these words should be
struck out, and that the cabmen might show they
were loyal and law abiding, After some discus-
sion, which threatened to be angry at one time, the
suggestion was complied with.

The motion in favour of increased mileage was
moved by Mr. SELLAS, who said it was quite a mis-
take to suppose that the shilling hiring from the
stand would keep empty cabs from the streets.
Besides the consideration that a cabman might be
required to go two miles for the shilling, there
was another and more important one. Even if
the shilling did keep cabs on the stand it would
be most effectual in keeping people off ; Mrs. Skin-
flint would not send to the stand for a cab, she
would wait until one passed by, on the principle
that he would be satisfied with sixpence or he
would not be on the road. Ile was much
amused at the difficulty experienced by Sir
Richard Mayne to find a place to put the
lamp; if placed on the side it would be in the way
of getting the luggage up and down ; if on the top
the driver would hide it; and if on the dashboard
the horse might put his tail before it, and some
horses having a knack of cocking their tails up it
might thus be rendered unfit for public use. The
difficulty, however, could be easily got over if the
cabman was placed in a position to afford lamps.
The motion was seconded by Mr. G. SMITH, who
had driven a cab for 15 years, and had never been
taken before a magistrate. He said the cabman
had already five Acts of Parliament, with an ag-
gregate of 576 clauses, and that, he should have
thought, was sufficient without the new one. The
penalties imposed by these Acts amounted in all to
£5O, so that every time a driver mounted the box
he made himself liable to that extent. The new
Act aided £6 to the £5O. As to the cabstand ques-
tion, Sir Richard Mayne stated in his evidence that
there were 250 stands in London, capable of accom-
modating 2,471 cabs; but it happened that London
had 5,877 cabs, so that the 3,406 had to go on what
they called " the long rank," and then they were
liable to 6d. fares and a summons. In conclusion,
Mr. Smith drew a round of hisses from his hearers
by reminding them that the numbers of all the cabs
which had bills on them advertising the meeting had
been taken, and that every cabyard had been lisited
by the police that evening to see whether the men
were out or not. Ile believed there was an object
in this, and he hoped Lord Elcho and others who
sympathised with them would see that no harm
came to them on account of it.

The mover of the resolution against the lamps de-
clared that it was impossible to do with only one lamp
for a cab, although only one was carried. He calcu-
lated that to carry out the directions issued the charge
would bi £27 103. a year. Mr. Evans, who se-
conded the motion, calculated that the lamp to his
hansom cost him 3)d. for cocoanut oil each winter
night The oil cost 2d. a gill, and a gill was
not sufficient to keep the lamp going from half-
past three until two in the morning, and although
the lamp cost 14s. it sometimes failed, and
he seemed deeply impressed with the con-
viction that if it failed by accident, however
far beyond the driver's control, the police and the
magistrate would give him no quarter. He con-
cluded by summing up the cabman's virtues. lie
is not the man who beats his wife, nor he who gets
fined for drunkenness, but he is the man who brings
murderers such as Muller to justice. The cab pro-
prietors were epally worthy ; they never opened
British Banks, or .got up London, Chatham, and
Dover Railways. He therefore asked for justice at
the hands of Parliament, and reminding the meet-
ing that members of the House of Commons were
not to be moved by intimidation, he recommended
them to work their case by legitimate means, and
show they were loyal subjects. He was proceeding
to instil a few teetotal principles into their minds,
and to offer himself as a commendable example,
when he was constrained to conclude by cries of
" Question !"
A fourth resolution pledged the proprietors and
drivers to withdraw their cabs from the streets at four
o'clock each day until the first Monday in January,
and if redress was not forthcoming at that time, to
take out licenses to enable them to let from the
yard, and thus save three-fourths of the duty,
and be rid of the lamp charge into the bargain.
It was, however, also resolved, with a view to carry
out Lord Elcho's suggestion, that the meeting
would act in accordance with any decision their
acing committee might come to after hearing the
Home Secretary's answer to-day. We interpret this
as meaning that if the answer be favourable the
cabs will be at work as usual this evening.

As the meeting was closing, at half-past 11, the
CIIAIR3IAN announced the receipt of a sympathetic
letter from Sir G. Bowyer, M.P.

TRAFALGAR-SQUARE.

A meeting of cabdrivers was held last evening,
shortly before 8 o'clock, in Trafalgar-square, by
adjournment from Exeter-hall, which was found too
small to accommodate the immense numbers who
had assembled. The entrances to Exeter. hall iu the
Strand and Exeter-street had been crowded by ap-
plicants for admission, who appeared much discon-
tented at being unable to enter, and not thoroughly
satisfied by the assurance that the house was full.
In consequence of this Mr. Crompton, secretary of
the Cabdrivers' Associati)n, left his place on the
platform of Exeter-hall, and appeared at the front
entrance, where he announced that a supplementary
meeting would be held in Trafalgar-square. The
I wo crowdi.—that at the main entrance in the Strand
and that at the west entrance in Exeter—street--
then proceeded to Trafalgar-square. They pro-
ceeded to the Nelson Column, and Mr. Crompton
who presided, surrounded by some of the leaders of
the movement, took up a position between the lions.
lie said the object of the meeting was one which
touched the interests of the cabmen, who had
to maintain their homes, their wives, and fami-
lies, and who were now about to be robbed
in a manner which no other class of the com-
munity would submit to. For many years, and
even in the old times, when the streets of London
were ill lighted, lamps upon the cabs had not been
required, and it was absurd to impose a heavy tax
upon the poor cabmen now when improvements
in the metropolis rendered such arrangements more
superfluous than ever. If the carrying of lamp was