§ MR. BOULNOIS (Marylebone, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the report of the molestation of cabmen at Islington, engaged in the lawful pursuit of their calling, in The Standard of the 21st instant, and will he instruct the police to give more efficient protection; whether his attention has been called to the proclamation, issued by the London Cab Drivers' Trade Union, in which it is stated that, on and after the 16th of May, no cabs are to run on the streets unless bearing the label supplied by the Secretary of the Union, at the offices, at Long Acre, St. Martin's Lane, W.C., and that any cabs running on the streets after this notice, and not bearing the Union label, will be blacklegs, and as such to be treated; and whether, after a driver has paid 5s. for his licence, and the cab proprietor £2 for a licence, and 15s. Carriage Tax, it is an infringement of the Hackney Carriage Act to compel a driver to affix a label to his cab before being allowed to pursue his calling; and, if so, will he take steps to require the removal of the labels now in use?
§ MR. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)Is it the fact, as is generally reported in the London newspapers, that the number of licences granted to drivers is in excess of the requirements of the Metropolis; and will the Chief Commissioner of Police be instructed not to grant more licences until the matter has been inquired into?
MR. GEORGE RUSSELLI will submit that point to the Home Secretary when he returns. In reply to the question of the hon. Member for Marylebone, I have to say that the statements referred to in the first paragraph are reported to us to be incorrect. I can only assure the hon. Member that the police are fully alive to their duty to repress intimidation, by whomever practised. The statement made in the second paragraph I believe to be correct. I am advised that the action described in the last part of the question does not constitute an infringement of the Hackney Carriage Acts.
§ MR. BOULNOISIs a cabman, then, entitled to put any label he chooses on his cab?