Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-06-06
!. LONDON LETTER.
WIangIe Overt Charges
Street Ry. Development.
Office Buildings Invade Many
OF West End Squares.
Lord Roseberry's Birthday Public
Learning Inside" Politics.
CForeign correspondence

(Foreign Correspondence
London. May 25.-Therc are nearly
sesen thousand motor ears plying or
the streets Of London. and the drivers
are engaged in a wrangle with the
companies which own their taxis over
TIC questions OF charges. TO hfneri-
cans the fares seem remarkably cheap,
sixteen cents for the first mile ard
iogs cents for each succeeding mile.
The drivers get % per cent. Of the
receipts for their share, but they have
to pay for tie petrol CONSIGNED. zach
side asserts that it is not making Il
f.r income under. presen. arrange
ments The question of ups is one
bone of contention while the matter
OF extra charges or baggage and adj
dtiona passengers also figures
largely.
Ii some OF the owners are to be be
lieVed the chauffeurs roll in luxury
one asserts that drivers are making
as much ~ two dollars a day, which
s large wage for England and that
exclusive Of tips. IaEy Of the drivers
ere represented to be able To take va
ffNNih|
or Brussels with their families. Some
are said To be 50 prosperous that they
Will work only -four or five days in
week, or take cars out and leave them
standing unused for hours. The own
ers' chief grievance is the claim that
tie drivers charge for many extras
and do not turn in the money and as
{, subsidiary claim they accuse drivers
of habitaally tampering with the
meters so that ss.res ale not recorded.
The total difference between their re
ceipts and the receipts which they
would gather if The cabs We're run
honestly represents the difference be
tween profitable and an Improbable
enterprise. they aver.
The drivers protest strongly against
charges OF dishonesty and appeal to
the public TO believe that they make
My a bare living and that by work
ing very long hours. They resist
suggestion made to the parliamentary
committee considering the situation
that fares be raised from Is 70 20 cents
for the first mile. Many people Nth
tie present tarif always pay a shilling
which gives the driver an cert lip.
With the tariff At 70 cents passengers
would give the same amount, thus
cutung The customary tip IN half.
Street railway development in Ion
don mas again been aroused, this time
p, proposal OF the London County
Council To make Marble Arch, the
Northeastern corner of Hyde Park the
terminus of one If their suburban
iiue-, which suggC .ted to the piinds Of
some that PARK Lane. that street 81
magnificent residences was to be in
1adtd
Insa .ordon the development of street
railways IS the reverse 10 thai 81
America. While there the centre of
the own is first provided here tram
ways, as .hey are known, were first
constructed in the surrounding dis
trictsFd and it has Only been against the
most strenuous opposition that the
ra3l1 We're brought into The city.
few years ago the question of allowing
the cars - cross Gne bridges from he
South side of the Thames River tpI
Land their passengers on Victoria en-
banlInent, was fought through the
House Of Lords, which in the end most
necessary permission. Other lines
have slowly erept towards the GENRE
until now residents in most OF the
suburbs can take street ear to with
in a short distance of their places of
business.
The district known as Cricklewood,
was an exception and the London
County Council, to remedy this detect,
proposed that line be extended along
Eageware Road a wide thoroughfare,
to Marble Arch The police first
objected on the ground that a tram
way terminus at Marble Arch would
cause congestion of traffic, and then
there appeared in the press long let
iers protesting against The desecra
zion of Park Land" The engineers OK
planned that there was no Intention of
extending the line beyond Marble Arch
aad that Park Lane would not be in
terfered with.
But il was no use. The opposition
was so great that the proposal had to
be Withdrawn.
Meantle,le, the London County
Council Tramways. which have cost
the ratepayers $50.000000, are suffer
iflS ifGta the competition 81 the lllucn
Improved notortus, which carries
passengers. without charge. from the
city to their residences III the suburbs.
E-------
Many of the West-end Squares.
around which formerly clustered the
re sidenccs of fashionable London, are
being invaded by business firms. st
james Square, just behind Pail Nah,
is rapidly SAFEGUARDING to the demands
of offices and clubs. Two clubs have
had their homes there for some years
and latterlS two insurance compan MES
have put out their signs on houses once
occupied by the nobility. The former
town house of the Earls Of Derby is
being converted into an office building,
a fate which not long ago hefell Iich-
felG House another famous residence.
The Bishop of London and the Duke
Of Norfolk, are among the few who
retain thei. town residences here, Nor
felix House, built IN li42 in front OF
a., H., = lob