§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a sum of £41,658 11s. (according to the Metropolitan Police Accounts for 1907–8) was the annual expenditure in the licensing of public vehicles and drivers and conductors in the Metropolitan area; and whether he will furnish a statement showing fully how this total is made up, what sum it amounts to per vehicle and per man licensed, and also what is the cost of this work for each of the last ten years.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Gladstone.) The sum mentioned represents the expense of carrying out the provisions of the Public Carriage Act, 1869, and the London Cab Act, 1907, within the Metropolitan Police district during the year, 1907–8. Full details of the expenditure will be found on page 9 of the Accounts for that year. The number of vehicles 1212 licensed in 1907–8 was 16,132, and the number of men was 31,162. The pay and expenses of clerks and inspectors, and other items of expenditure, cannot be apportioned as between vehicles and drivers and conductors, and it is therefore impossible to state the average expenditure per vehicle and per man licensed. The expenditure for the past ten years has been as follows—
| Year to 31st March. | |||
| — | £ | s. | d. |
| 1899 | 35,533 | 2 | 9 |
| 1900 | 35,135 | 10 | 0 |
| 1901 | 37,224 | 11 | 0 |
| 1902 | 39,669 | 15 | 1 |
| 1903 | 38,558 | 7 | 1 |
| 1904 | 38,536 | 0 | 1 |
| 1905 | 38,515 | 13 | 5 |
| 1906 | 39,155 | 7 | 9 |
| 1907 | 40,398 | 9 | 10 |
| 1908 | 41,658 | 11 | 5 |