Motorcab Topics.
Page 14
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Liverpool taxicab drivers have agreed to pay Is, per week towards the " mechanics " who put on or remove the tires, Mr. George Pollard, M.I.Mech.E., the late chief engineer of the London Road Car Company, has taken up the duties of his new post as chief engineer to the General Motorcab Company.
A New Registration,
The British Motor Cab Co., Ltd., with an authorised capital of £400.000, and with its office at 39, Lombard Street, E.C., has been registered by Messrs. Radcliffe, Cater and Hood, of 20, Craven Street, Charing Cross, W.C. The first directors are Messrs. A. L. Laurens; 0. L. Courthope, M.P.; F. A. A. Denies ; A. P. B. Monier; R. R. Reoul-Duval; and H. Puerari.
General Motor Cab Company's Receipts.
The current traffic returns of the General Motor Cab Company are sent to us as follow :—
Week ending Saturday, 10th July, ,C20,564.
Previous week, £19,847.
-Corresponding week, 1908, £15,584. Increase on preVi0118 week, £718. Increase on corresponding week,
1908, £4,981, Total receipts from 1st August, 1908, £728,462.
Increase on previous correspondiug period, £275,630.
It should be noted that the above .figures take no account of the average number of cabs in service for the respective periods.
Birkenhead Not to be Neglected.
Birkenhead, to the disgust of Li;rerpool, has steadfastly refused to license taxicabs for service within its boundaries. The district is, however, not to be deprived of this public advantage. A small fleet of vehicles is to be garaged in the town and is to be kept 11.6 the disposal of would-be passengers who will need to telephone their instructions. In conjunction with a due aneasure of publicity for the scheme, such an arrangement works well and, moreover, is profitable to the proprietors. The hirings do not have to comply with any definite schedule of tares. Each journey is undertaken by -arrangement as a separate contract. A very considerable proportion, and ley far the more profitable part, of the business of many provincial motoreab erowners already consists of this telephone-order variety.
The "Rule-Britannia" Taxicabs.
Mr. S. F. Edge asks us to draw attention to the fact that all the drivers of the Napier taxicabs, which are running for the Coupe and Motorcab Company of Great Britain, Limited, are of British nationality, and that the whole machine, including the tires and body, is British built. The Napiers running for W. and G. clu Cros. Limited, may be distinguished by the " W. and 0." signs on the radiators.
Heavy Damages Against the Provincial Motor Cab Co.
An action has been concluded at the Manchester Assizes in which Mr. A. Wason Parker claimed £6,000 damages against the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., for injury to himself, his wife and his son. After evidence had been heard with regard to the behaviour of the driver of the taxicab which ran into the back of the horse phaeton carrying the plaintiffs, the defence was withdrawn, and the defendants consented to judgment for £2,000, with costs.
The "Daily Mail" Fund.
At the meeting of the committee of the " Daily Mail " Cabbies' Fund at Carmelite House last week the financial statement, to which i we referred in our issue for 1st July, was formally presented. The question of the distribution of pensions to the sixty old men was dealt with ; as sonic recompense to the committee of the Cabdrivers' Benevolent Association, which has offered to undertake the distribution, £100 has been voted to itfrom the " Daily Mail " fend. Resolutions were pas.sed conveying the high appreciation and cordial thanks of the committee to the various firms that have assisted the fund in the work of training cabmen for other callings. Among those specially thanked were the General Motor Cab Company, the United Motor Cab Company, Messrs. W. and 0. Du Cros, Limited, the F.I.A.T. Motor Cab Company, the Humber Motor Cab Company, and the Express Motor Cab Company.
It was resolved to use the balance remainiug of the fund as follows ; £127 to be held in reserve for any further expenses that may arise in some of the departments already provided for, and after a sufficient interval to he transferred to the training fund : £900 9s. 3d. to he employed in completing the training in fresh callings of the men already receiving instruction through the fund, The Fleet at Portsmouth.
Portsmouth's fleet of taxicabs is about to be permanently increased. A temporary addition of fifteen vehicles is to be made for Goodwood week. Great contingents of Portsmouth inhabitants annually make the pilgrimage to Goodwood.
Bristol's Lame Horse.
The Bristol Guardians have decided that they have no authority to take taxicabs, instead of horse-drawn vehicles, and they have resolved not to sell forthwith a certain lame horse in their possession. Seeing that members of the Bristol Town Council can go about their official business in motorcabs, why not the Guardians F
Gametal Motor Cab Debentures.
The past fortnight has witnessed the underwriting of 400,000 five per cent. first mortgage debentures of £20 each, which the directors of the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., intend to issue before the end of the present month. The underwriting appears to have " gone well." They will be offered to the public at £98 per cent., and the underwriting commission was fixed at five per cent. The directorate will include Messrs. Davison Dalziel. Lazare Weiner, Charles Maseart, N. T. de Bretteville, Sir William Bell, Messrs. C. Wyndham Quin, Louis Wiriot, Edgar Cohen, Sir Henry Norman, M.P.. the Hon. Kenneth Kinnaird, Messrs. Malden Heekstall Smith, Harold King, and Godfrey C. Isaacs.
It is estimated that the company's present property and assets reach the sum of £1,351,236, and it is stated that, during the month of June last, the average number of motoreahs in use was 1,501, with average daily receipts of £1 17s. 10d. per cab. The company's full complement of cabs will, it is stated, shortly amount, to 8,476 vehicles, exclusive of 109 Charron vehicles de luxe. It is clear that the company has considerable difficulties ahead of it, having regard to the large proportion of particular models —the results obtained from which cannot be held to be satisfactory—that is owned by it. The proposal is to redeem the forthcoming debentures at the rate of £60.666. at the price of £105 per cent., on the let August, 1910, and on each succeeding 1st August until the year 1915. This anticipated rate of extinction of debt appears to us to he one which will require to be modified hereafter, As certain contingent charges become more apparent.