Hackney-Coaches.
The Times, 1824-10-11T00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,-ou have rendered the public great service in sledicating a part of the columns of youir journal to the Comnlaints of vour cor- respondents of the infamous impositions of hacknev-coaclhmen; but trotr corre'rindent H. is mistaken when, after justly remarking mt atnan cannot always have a book of hackney-coach fares in hsi pncket," he adels, - and if hc could, there is no suich work sufil- ciently-avored by authority for people to rely upon it," as there is such a work., and which, on its first pubhlcation, you pointed out to the rMiblic with a well Merited eUlogium or ita utility; its title is thce Mckneymaoo'i Direelorz. by James Qunife, Surveyor to the Eoard of liackney.coaches. It contains the fares fromn 84 &bcbh-stands, checked by actual admeasurement, and the distances aom office-books, and it'is constantly acted upon by the Magistrates, sss well as the Commissioners of Haeknev-coaches. To speak courteously of the latter gentlemen, I think I tnay be allowed to say, that the public owe thein notbing. Can any thitig be more futile than the slidling nutnber whicih is placed within. sidle the coach, or the moveability of. the plates on the out- de, which are sauscoptible of, and are constantly being chsanged i TS leads to the frauds at night, and which came out before the leagistrates on a late examination. As to the inside number, any combination of the figurcs 8, i, 9, and 1, when turned topsyturvy (and which I have experienced ), iay even a 0 will help i; interme- diate cases, gives the person taking ihe number withinside the coach, quitead fderent nursiber from the.real one without, anti sub- l jects the wronged and cheated party to the risk of perjury in idienti- I f ing the coach he was in. 1, some little time sitice, saw a lady nr. rive in a stage-coach from the country with several packages ; she and her lading were slhified fronm the stage into a hackney-coach, on the stand; and whilst this was doing, the driver of the hackney- coach shifted his plates to the next coach, anti then drove awav with the exchanged number: I leave to your readers to judge, if some dishonest trick was not intended to be practisel on the lady, or her boxes. Mantsuvres of this description wouhll be prevented, if the numbers were painted in long figures on the back, and each side ef rhe coach, similar to the tall letters of "dealer in maritie stores" which stare us in the face so gigantically. *Vhy should not street robbery be prevented, as well as the receiv. ing of stolen goods. 'an any Commissioner of Hackney. Coaches pass a coach-stand in his way to his office without remarking the miserable state of many of the coaches anal their cattle? The Commissioners surely must be aware that in most cases the driver farins and hires the coach of the lie 'nsed proprie. tor at a certain sum, and who then extorts all he can, fully awvAre of the difficulty that a placeman or man of business experiences in leav ing his offlce or concernq to take out and attend upon the suMmons. Should the triver find himself summoned,he is immediately, though a bachelor, converted into a married man with a large familv, and the complainant is waited upon by a female In tears, supplied bv an smion, and supported by a train of ragged children, furnished by a mind of picnie contribution of his-stand in general. As the inaufficienc: of the present mode of punishment is evinced by the hourly committal of frauds, surely it behoves the Commis-. sioners, a* honest servants of the public to devise some more effec- tual measures to cheek or put a stop to this species of robbery of the middling classe8 of society. .Vhy not suspend the licences of any hekneycoach mamter for a given time whose pretended servant is co _;icted ef demanding more than his fare ? At present he winks and laughs at it, as he shares in the plunder by the exravagant sum hc gets tor the loan of his coach and plates. X. . S. It may be unknown to your teaders, that come short time -since a very modest petition was piesented to Parliament by eertain owners and driver.s (their servants, you would suppose) of hacknev coaches and chariots complaining of the short stages, and applying for a diminution of ibe Zuosber of them, and of hackney-coaches. It was ortlered to lie on the table, where it sleeps, as no member ven- tured to stir in it. The effect of granting the prayer of this honest petition wvould have been the usfpeopling of the vllagres in the out. skirts of London_any one of which, in itS contribution of house and windew-tax to theburdens of the State, far exceeds the paltryamouut (not 23,0001., I believe) of the hackney-coach duty. UIA CKNRY.-COA OHES.