Iviotorcab
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
News contributions are invited: payment will be made on publication.
Some of the London daily papers draw attention to the fact that the driver of a certain London taxicab is a V.C. hero, late Private Frederick hitch, of Rorke's Drift.
New Registration.
New York Taxi-Cab Co., Ltd., with authorized capital of £506,000 (500,000 in 1.1. preference participating ordinary shares and 120,000 in is. deferred shares), with its office at 32, Old J ewry, RC., to carry on the business of proprietors of motorcabs, omnibuses, cars, carriages, vans, etc., and to enter into an agreement with the New York Taxi-Cab Co., Ltd. (in liquidation).
An Appeal Allowed.
An appeal was heard before the Master of the Rolls last week from a verdict of judgment at a trial before Mr. Justice Ridley at Liverpool Assizes. In the original case, which was an action for damages for personal injuries against the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., by a plaintiff named Churton, the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for £35, but notwithstanding this verdict, judgment was given for the defendants. The Master of the Rolls, in giving judgment for the plaintiff, said that he felt the original trial was not altogether satisfactory, since the jury only awarded 1:35 damages to a plaintiff whose leg was broken. Ho thought it was clear that there was evidence for the jury upon which to find a verdict.
Distressful Dublin Again.
As an instance of the distress which it is presumed will follow upon the introduction of motercahs in Dublin, a correspondent in one of the leading Irish papers states that there are engaged in the maintenance and running of Irish jaunting cars at present the following workers: 2,000 drivers and stablemen, 200 farriers and helpers, 100 harness makers, 1,000 growers of bay and oats, 1,000 people whose whole capital is invested in hackney carriages. That this is another injustice to Ireland there is little doubt. We notice that in this formidable list no provision is made for coachtmildPrS. but from the condition in which many of the Irish side ears are maintained. we can imagine that the number of helpers in this direction is a negligible one. It, however, has fairly to he pointed out that, although many of these individuals may lose their immediate employment, the motorcah industry finds work for a large number
in other directions. Had we considered the feelings of the mud-hut
builders of ancient times, the ferroconcrete construction of houses might have made but little progress.
Racehorse Expert on Motorcab Speed.
An excess-speed case of some interest was, last week, heard before Mr. Fordham, the West London magistrate. A taxicab driver, named Segelthalen, was summoned for driving a motorcab along Kensington Road at a speed exceeding 20 m.p.h. The police originally placed the speed of the machine at 36 m.p.h., but this estimate was subsequently reduced to one of 30 m.p.h. The magistrate had suggested that a trial might be made of the vehicle in order to ascertain its maximum speed, but Sub-divisional Inspector Beckley of the Public Carriage Office stated that the Commissioner of Police was of opinion that such a trial would not be advisable in the interests of the safety of his men or of the other traffic along the road, and that, having regard to the altered conditions under which a second test of the car's speed must take plate, he did not consider that such a trial would 1.) or vdlue. During the further hearing of the case, Captain Longfield, who was the hirer on the occasion in question, stated that his lady companion, who was in delicate health, had been thrown forward owing to the sudden stoppage of the vehicle by tile police; she was now dangerously ill. He denied that the motorcab was proceeding at a greater speed than 16 m.p.h.; it, was travelling alongside a motorbus. Asked by the magistrate if he were a judge of speed, Capt. Longfield stated that it was his profession. Be was manager of the Irish Bffiedstock Agency, and he had to judge the speed ttf racehorses. The magistrate, on this evidence, dismissed the summons and awarded three guineas costs against the police.
Decision re Luggage on Taxicabs
On Monday last, an important decision was given in Marylehone County Court by Judge Selfe, in a case in which a taxicab driver sued the G.W.R. Co., for 9d., for breach of contract, trespass and unlawful interference. Having paid Id. as yard fee, the driver was engaged by a lady at Paddington terminus, but he took exception to the placing of a box inside the cab, on the ground that it would damage the body. Upon his refusal to allow the passenger to carry the box inside the cab with her, he was ordered to leave the station, and thus had to lose both the id. which he had paid as yard fee and the initial 8d, which was registered on his taximeter. Evidence was given that the box was a light hat-box only. The judge said that the plaintiff had no right to insist on carrying stieh a box outside. Judgment was delivered for the defendant.