Motorcab Topics.
Page 6
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A scheme has been put forward for the reconstruction of the New York Motor Cab Company.
" Twenty Points for London Taxicab Users " will be issued from this office next week, in display-card and pamphlet forms.
Gamage-Bell.
The first of the Belsize motorcabs to carry the colours of the Carnage-Bell Motoreah Cu. has appeared on the streets of London, The door panels display a device consisting of the word " Carnage " superimposed on a bell. Instead of B.S.A. chassis, as was originally intended, Belsize and Napier-30 of the former, and 55 of the latter—models, all with fourcOirder engines, have been purchased. But for unavoidable delays over the approval of body-work by Scotland Yard, the Gainage-Bell vehicles might have been in service already. As it is, we expect to see 50 of them at work by the end of May. Just now. the fully-paid shares are changing hands at is. 6d. premium, and we are able to say that expenses are being kept low.
Distressful Times for Dublin.
Following the precedents set by the horse-cab owners in many of the smaller towns in England, the Dish jarvey in Dublin has at last begun to agitate for the prohibition of the taxicab which, he thinks, would oust the horse-cab completely. He is now beginning to realize that the public will not much longer be content with the sidecar— a vehicle which has nothing on earth to recommend it for public-service other than its unpicturesque antiquityr; it is the last word in comfortlessness—to the eninitiated Saxon or other " foreigner." That the opposition to the introduction of motor taxicabs on the part of the Irish jarveys will be bitter, is a foregone conclusion. We commented upon this situation in Dublin over two years ago. An interesting prelude to the forthcoming struggle is evidenced by the publication in the local press of communications from interested correspondents, who, with true local chatacteristics, abuse each other on the score of their respective attitudes with regard to Irish funerals, local peasantry, national unemployment and similar kindred subjects. No argument at all has, so far, been advanced locally to show why the taxicab should not come to Dublin. The proposal to establish a factor v in Dublin, in order to produce the necessary taxicabs for Ireland, finds many supporters. A Mixed Fleet.
Campbells, IAd., the jobmaster of Aberdeen, at present has the following mixed motoreab fleet : one Peugeot one Belsize three _Napiers; one
B.S.A. and one Albion. Arrangements for the purchase of further Ma^ chines are being made as quickly as possible.
General Motor Cab Co.'s Traffic Returns.
The current traffic return of the Crucial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., is its follows: For the week ending Saturday, the 9th April. the total receipts it ere £16,201, which is an increase of L'1,103 on the corresponding week ef last year, and an increase of t'2,931 on the previous week of this year.
New Registrations.
Wallas-ey Taxies, (Russell and Taylor), Ltd., with an authorized eapital of £10,000 in .4.:1 shares. by Messrs. T. T. Hull and Son, of 22, Chancery Lane, W.C., to carry on the business as manufacturers, owners, etc., of motorcabs, omnibuses, cars, carriages, and other public and private conveyances. etc. Directors: J. A. Hassal, 0, Lord Street, Liverpool ; A. Parsons, 15, Elgin Drive, Li.scard ; C. H. Wrigley, 12, Stanley Avenue. Wallasey; F. Parsons, 15, Elgin Drive, Liscard.
To Get a Taxi.
We give below a list of the telephone numbers, both on the Post Office and the National systems, from which motorcabs may, at all times, be summoned. They are located in the principal cab-ranks and the chief motorcab companies' garages. The Driver's "Perks."
Amongst the reasons, which are given by the secretary of a ea b-drivers7 association, for the retention of " extras " by the drivers, and for the non-registration of these charges on this taximeter, are the following : the flag may he put down in error ; a driver may arrive too late for a telephone call ; the meter may jump 2d. while the fare is being paid ; the payment of the railway companies' tax of ld. on drivers who. use their station yards; the liability of drivers to be bilked.". Whilst sympathizing with the driver who has been swindled by an absconding passenger, we would remind the secretary that if the flag be put down in PrrOr, that surely is the .driver's fault ; also that there is no reason W hr " 2d. should jump " while the fare is being paid. No driver ltas a right. to keep the flag down while the fare is being paid ; he must render the ta-ximeter inoperative immediately upon the termination of the journey.
An Important "Extras" Decision.
A taxicab driver, R. J. Heaslewoo-d, summoned a passenger at Bow Street, last week, for non-payment of 2d., the balance of an " extra " charge. The defendant declined to pay 6d., because the driver refused to record this amount on the taximeter as an " extra." The complainant considered " extras " were his perquisite.
Mr. Curtis Bennett referred to the orders of the Home Secretary, issued under the London Cab and Stage Carriage Act, 1907, which provided that every mot-in-cab should befitted with a taximeter to. indicate to the hirer either the distance travelled or the fare chargeable. The fare chargeable inclnded any payment to he made in respect of the hire of the cab. These proceedings were, he said, nothing more nor less than an attempt to get a decision to legalize what was really a fraud. It would certainly be interesting news to those who hail employed this man to know that their drivers had apparently been pocketing the extra sixpences to which, of course, the employers were entitled_
Inspector Blayden, of Scotland Yard, stated that the whole of the fare chargeable, including the amount for extra passengers, ought. to appear on the taximeter.
The magistrate said he certainly thought the taximeter ought to show the total amount claimed. The summons was dismissed.
The magistrate added that he was quite prepared to state a ease, so that the matter might go further.