§ MR. PIMsaid, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether his attention has been given to the provisions of the Dublin Carriage Act, 1853, as compared with the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act, 1869, and to ask, why the Licence Duties on Stage and Job Carriages continues fixed at £8 per annum in Dublin, while in London they do not exceed £2 2s.; why the penalty for various offences under the Dublin Act should be £10, while the penalty in 1503 London for a similar offence is only £5; and, whether he is disposed to recommend the Commissioners of Police in Dublin, in pursuance of the powers vested in them by the seventh section of the Dublin Act, to reduce the Licence Duties on all carriages to a uniform amount, say £1 1s. and thus get rid of the vexatious anomaly under which a job carriage proprietor has lately been fined £1 1s. (a penalty mitigated from £10) because he attached an eight pound badge to a carriage which only required a five pound badge?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE,in reply, said, it appeared from a Report which he had received from the Commissioners of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, that his hon. Friend was not correct in supposing the carriage duties in Dublin were higher than those in London; they were, on the contrary, considerably lower on the whole. £2 2s. was the amount paid in London under the Act of last Session; but a sum of £2 had to be paid in addition for a plate, and 7s. 6d. for each horse, making the duty payable for cabs in London more than £5; whereas in Dublin they paid only an annual duty of £1 4s., at which rate Dublin was, he believed, very well and cheaply supplied with cab accommodation. As to those job carriages on which a higher duty was paid, his hon. Friend must be aware that their charges were higher than those of ordinary cabs, and they were generally employed on special occasions, and generally made a good thing out of their job. If, for instance, his hon. Friend wished during the Recess to visit Punchestown Races, and engaged a carriage and pair for the purpose, he would find that he would get very well out of the transaction if he were only charged £5. In reply to the second Question, he had to state that the penalty of £10 for offences under the Dublin Act was a maximum figure; that the magistrates had full power to reduce the penalty, which was scarcely ever inflicted to the full extent, except under aggravated circumstances. The loss to the Revenue which would be involved in the reduction suggested in his hon. Friend's Question was in itself by no means an unimportant matter for consideration; but, independently of that, it did not appear to the Government there was any good ground for making such a reduction. With respect 1504 to the conviction to which his hon. Friend referred, there could be no doubt that the use of an £8 badge in the case of a carriage which required only a £5 badge was clearly illegal. The magistrate was, therefore, perfectly justified in inflicting a punishment under the circumstances.