§ MR. MONTAGUE GUESTsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Homo Department, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to make any alteration in the existing Cab Regulations?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the improved condition of cabs was not so much a matter of cab regulation as of inspection by the police. He had no immediate intention of altering the cab regulations; but it was proposed, before the close of the Session, to bring in a Bill to consolidate the seven or eight existing Acts as to cabs, and the House would then have an opportunity of making any change in the regulations which it might deem proper. All, or nearly all, the regulations objected to were regulations which had been in force for the last 17 years, and which he believed had worked without any practical inconvenience to the public; and for the last three months he was not aware of any complaint having been made—he meant ever since the regulations had been really understood—or of there having been any difficulty in enforcing them before the police magistrates. One change it was proposed to make on the 1st of June—namely, that, instead of being presented for inspection as heretofore in January, the cabs should be presented for inspection on the 1st of June, and then it would be the duty of the Commissioners of Police to make a searching inquiry into the state of all the cabs, and reject those which were not deemed satisfactory. That, he hoped, would lead to a considerable improvement; and an opportunity would be taken, now that the cab charges per mile and per hour had been fixed, to see that they were properly exhibited outside the vehicles. Another change, recommended by his hon. Friend the Member for Windsor (Mr. Eykyn), would be made—namely, to enable the numbers of Hansom cabs, which could now be seen from one side only, to be seen as easily as the numbers attached to the back of four-wheeled cabs could be. With those exceptions, he proposed to make no alterations until the introduction of the general Bill on the subject.
SIR JOHN HAYsaid, he would beg to ask whether the inspection of cabs on the 1st of June would be made before or after the Derby?