§ 18. Rear-Admiral Sir MURRAY SUETERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will inform the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis that the present type of taximeter-cab meter is not satisfactory, even if the meter is properly illuminated; and will he request the commissioner to require the gradual disuse of black dials with illegible figures working in apertures too small to allow the amount of the fare to be seen even under a strong light, and to require in future that the dials of fare meters be white and not black, and the figures and apertures half as large again as are at present permitted?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir John Gilmour)The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis is of the opinion, in which I concur, that as regards legibility, there is nothing to choose between meters with black figures on a white ground and meters with white figures on a black ground, and it would therefore be unreasonable to insist on one type to the exclusion of the other. As regards the size of the figures, I am advised that enlargement of the apertures of existing meters would involve complete reconstruction of the meters and I cannot see my way to impose such a burden on the trade. New types of meters, however, will be required to have apertures and figures half as large again as those of existing types.
§ Mr. RHYS DAVIESCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether the Commissioner of Police has received any complaint supporting the allegation made in the question?
§ Sir J. GILMOURI must have notice of that question.
§ Mr. MABANEHas it not been sufficiently demonstrated that black figures on a yellow ground are much more easily readable than any others?