Motorcab
Page 14
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The West Ham Tramways Committee has jest let a portion of the Swan tramcar depot, at \Vest Ham, to a Mr. R. Bennett for the purpose of a motorcab garage The Town Clerk of Willesden has been instructed to ask motorcab companies to place taxicabs for hire in the more thickly-populated parts of the district. .
For the week ending 25th September. the takings of the General Motor Car Co., Ltd., amounted to £16,063. which is an increase of £1,434 on the previous week.
Delay at Norwich.
The recommendation of the Watch Committee of the Norwich Town Cooneil, that 20 motoreahs should be licensed, has been reversed by the Town Council, in consequence of a memorial from 85 cab-drivers. These men protested that they took out their licences in May last for a period of 12 months, }Ind asked that the matter of taxicab licensing should stand over until next May. The Council agreed to do this, thus depriving residents in the county town and district of muchneeded facilities.
New Registrations.
Mutual Taxicab Supply Co., Ltd., with an authorized capital of £100 in 4s. shares, and its registered office at 41. Holborn Viaduct, E.C.
The City Taxi Co., Ltd.. with an authorized capital of £1.000, and its registered office at 0, Eldred Street, Lambeth, S.E.
The Moscow Motorcab Co., Ltd., by Messrs. Kenneth, Brown and Co., of Lennox House. Norfolk street, W.C., with a nominal capital of 1;100.
The Channel Islands Motor Co., Ltd., with an authorized capital of £2,000 in £1 shares, and with its registered office at 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, IV .C.
A Profit Sharing Scheme.
The directors of the Express Moto. Cab Co., Ltd., of which Mr. T. Ernest Polden is chairmnn, :rave adopted a profit-sharing scheme for the encouragement of their 240 drivers. We quote a summary of the explanation given by the company's solicitor, Mr. T. Rothwell Haslam, of Messrs. Haslam and Sanders, from " The Financial Times," and we may add that the proposnl was accepted by the men. with evident alacrity, at a dinner which was given to them by the corn on the night of the 23rd inst.
" The present capital of the Express Motor Cab Co., Ltd., was 40,000 preferred shares of the nominal value of #:1. and 40,090 deferred shares of Is. each. The deferred shires were cc-titled. after payment of the preferential dividend of seven per cent. an after providing for contingene7 renewal and other reserves, to one half of the remaining profits. Ten thousand shares would be set aside for employees : these would be vested in four trustees. who would have the right to nominate and to determine hoethe shares were to he allocated. Widows of men dying in the employ of the eosrmanv would have the legal rights of the Workmen's Campensation Acts missed lw Parliament. hut woeld retain, in addition. the interest in the shares previously held be the deceased. In addition to the shares, the cab-drivers would be entitled to have deposited with the trustees 3s. per man per week as a bonus, to be uistributed amongst them each six mouths, provided they had worked six days per week during such period. Under the scheme, roughly outlined, it would be generally understood that there would be certain conditions provided for by the trustees."
The exact method of acquirement is not made clear, but the general idea ie good. It is, we learn, deferred shares which the drivers will hold.
Drivers' Pay in Brussels.
Adverting to the fixed wage of three francs (2s. (3d.) for a day of 10 hours, with 5d. an hour beyond that period, for motoreab drivers in Brussels, to which we made brief reference a fortnight ago, we now learn that the erivers in the employ of the Brussels Motor Cab Co. retain only six per cent. of the gross receipts.
The Only Way.
On his arrival at Todmorden, on a recent Sunday evening, en route for Preston, one of our Editorial representatives discovered that it would not be possible to travel, by train, farther than Blackburn the same night. Having a business appointment in Preston at an early hour on the following . morning, he decided, should a taxicab be available at Blackburn, to finish the journey by road. The following wire was, therefore, sent to the station inspector at Blackburn : —" Please have taxicab awaiting arrival of 10.24 train." Thanks to the courtesy of the station official, one of the Blacklmen Taxicab Co.'s 14-16 h.p. Darracq cabs was awaiting the train's arrival ; the 11,!f odd miles of road journey to the Park Hotel, Preston, was completed in comfort, and at a good speed, the car reaching its destination a few minutes after 11 o.m.
In a subsequent communication from Mr. Albert E. Briscoe. the secretary of this company, we learn that, at present, a good service is being mantained with a couple of Darracq vehicles (Ind one 15 lip. Napier, but that several additions will shortly be made to the fleet, after which there will always be three of them engaged on station work. The tariff allows of a charge of is. per mile for one or two
passengers, and is. 6d. a mile for three or four Passengers. When engaged for touring purposes. 9:1. per mile is
charged. The Napier cab has just returned from a 1,000-mile tour in Wales and Devonshire ; its behaviour throughout the journey was most eredita bl O.