§ LORD ALGERNON PERCYasked the Secretary of State for the Home 1011 Department, Whether Ins attention has been called to the case of Mrs. White, sommoned at the Mansion House, ou the 16th of February, for defrauding a cabdriver of his fare; whether his attention was called by the Cabdrivers' Benevolent Association in June 1682, to the hardships frequently suffered by cabdrivers, in similar cases, from the action of fraudulent persons; and, whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to take any steps to amend the existing Cab Laws, so as to place cabmen ill a more advantageous position with regard to the recovery of fares?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTSir, I presume the noble Lord refers to the hardship of the cabmen not being able to proceed summarily by arrest, but by summons. I sympathize very much with the cabmen, and should be very glad to help them; but this state of things has arisen out of a very good Act of Parliament passed by my Predecessor—the Summary Jurisdiction Act. It is impossible to deal with one particular trade or industry on a different footing from that on which the rest of the community is placed; and therefore I cannot see my way to make the cabdrivers a special exception under the Act.