HACKNEY CARRIAGES (METROPOLIS). (Hansard, 21 April 1853)

MR. FITZROY

moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the regulation of hackney carriages in the metropolis. There was no capital in Europe where hackney carriages were so entirely removed from all efficient control and supervision as in London. That state of things arose principally from the existing system of licensing those vehicles. There was no restriction upon the number of licences that were issued, nor did the fitness of the carriage for the purposes for which it was designed form any consideration in the decision whether the licence should issue or not. Certainly, some disqualifications did exist; for example, with respect to persons that had been convicted, also with respect to minors, and in cases where in consequence of arrears of duty there had been a revocation of the former licence; but these disqualifications were more nominal than real, and scarcely an instance occurred in which a licence was refused. The consequence of such a system was to crowd their stands with vehicles of an inferior description, and with horses which had been graphically described by the first living novelist as being kept on their legs by the rickety vehicles to which they are attached. The best way to secure to the inhabitants of the metropolis vehicles in a fit and proper condition for the public use was, to alter the system on which licences were issued; and he therefore proposed to insert in the Bill which he now asked to introduce a provision to the following effect:—That every person who is desirous to obtain a licence for using or letting to hire a hackney Carriage within the limits of the metropolitan police district, shall make his application to the Commissioners of Police, who on such application shall cause an inspection to be made of the carriage for which he proposes to ask the licence, and on a certificate being granted by the Commissioners of Police, that that carriage is in a fit and proper condition for the public use, shall obtain at the Board of Inland Revenue a licence, on the production of such certificate. He also proposed that power should be given to the Commissioners of Police from time to time to have a fresh inspection of those carriages, and if they found them to be out of order the licence should be suspended; and a penalty should be attached to the hiring out of any vehicle of that description after due notice was given by the Commissioners of Police that such vehicle was not fit for public use. In ad- 232 dition to the unsatisfactory condition of those vehicles, the fare demanded for their use was excessively exorbitant. No change had been made in it since the introduction of those vehicles 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, and the other the fare paid per mile for the use of a back cab. It appeared to him that there was every reason to think that they had now arrived at the time for making a reduction in the fares to the extent at least of 25 per cent. He therefore proposed that the fare should be fixed at 6d. per mile; and the decrease in the price of forage alone was sufficient to justify him in asking the House to agree to that proposition. In the month of April in the year 1831 oats were 23s. 10d. per quarter; in this month oats were only 19s. 8d. per quarter; so that they had fallen no less than between 20 and 25 per cent—exactly the amount which he proposed henceforward to deduct from the present fares. But, independent of the exorbitant amount of the fare, there was a great objection to the nature of it, in consequence of the broken money that was involved in it. At present 8d. was the amount of the fare per mile; but the person who engaged it would hardly encounter the torrent of abuse and indignation that would be levelled against him if he failed to pay the cabman 1s. The fare, therefore, instead of 8d., was in fact 1s.; and in addition to that, the public had no means of ascertaining satisfactorily the distance they were taken. He therefore proposed that the Commissioners of Police should at every stand cause a board to be fixed, as at the different railway stations, on which should be inscribed the different fares to the points most likely to be resorted to from those different stands. He also proposed that they should have the power to appoint men to attend at the different stands, who would be furnished with lists signed by the Commissioners of Police, and who, on application would, inform the hirer of a cab the amount he would have to pay. That would tend to the convenience of ladies and of others who were in the habit of using cabs, and who were subjected to great imposition under the existing circumstances. No great hardship would be inflicted upon the cab proprietors by the reduction of 233 fares. He had already referred to the reduction in the price of forage; and his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had promised, on the passing of this Bill, to reduce the present licences paid by cab proprietors to a great extent. Independent of the original licence which was to be changed from 5l. to 1l., the licence now charged 10s. a week, he proposed to reduce to 7s., whereby a saving would be effected to each cab proprietor of 7l. 16s. per annum. The proposition which he made to allow the Commissioners of Police to place men on the different stands to enforce the observance of the rules laid down by the Police Commissioners, would save the cab proprietors no less a sum than 15,000l., which they now pay to the watermen. There were 3,000 cab proprietors; therefore they would thereby effect a saving of 5L. each, in addition to the sum of 7l.) 16s. already referred to. The reduction of the fare was not an uninteresting subject to the inhabitants of the metropolis. The sum levied upon the inhabitants of the metropolis under the head of cab hire in the year, amounted to no less than 860,000l., and the alteration he proposed to make would consequently save to the inhabitants of London no less a sum than 220,000l. per annum. He proposed that when the cab was taken by the hour, the fare should be 2s. the hour, instead of 1s. 6d., the sum now charged, because it would be compulsory on the driver to accept an engagement by the hour if he were required to do so, whereas now the drivers uniformly refused. He proposed that there should be an alteration made with respect to the disposal of property that was left in cabs. Permission was now given to the cab driver to retain in his possession any property found in his cab during the term of four days. Then, if it were not demanded, he was to take it to the Stamp Office, where it was to remain for a year, and if it were not claimed it was to be sold for the benefit of the cab driver. He (Mr. Fitzroy) saw no reason for giving to the driver the benefit of any property that was left in his cab, and he proposed that the driver should be compelled to convey that property to the nearest police station; that it was to be left there for one year, and if it were not claimed then it was to be sold, and the proceeds should go towards defraying the expense of carrying the provisions of the Act into execution. He also proposed that in any dispute between the hirer and the owner of the cab the hirer should insist upon being 234 driven to the nearest police magistrate, and have his complaint decided on the instant; or, if a magistrate was not sitting, that he should then drive to the nearest police court, and there have his complaint entered, which should be heard first the next morning. These were the provisions of his Bill, and he believed they were connected with the comfort of a large body of the inhabitants of this metropolis; and he hoped that they would put London on a level, as far as regarded public vehicles, with any capital in Europe.