Taximeter Difficulties.
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Not a few members of the public appear still to be in doubt as to the validity of the indicated charges on the dials of taximeter recorders. Pages 301 and 307 contain references to cases in point, and we desire to record, with no small degree of satisfaction, that practically the whole of such complaints are proved, on investigation at Scotland Yard, or before the Police Magistrates, to be groundless. It is, no doubt, disconcerting to the individual who., owing to traffic obstructions and stoppages at intersecting tho
roughfares, finds himself charged at some rate considerablyin excess of Sd. per mile over a journey of which he knows
the length pretty accurately. London experiences of the kind are no doubt repeated, proportionally to the rates per mile and the smaller volumes of traffic, in the Provinces, though with less comparative frequency, We fail to see, having regard to the thoroughness of the inspection and sealing to which these instruments are subjected by the public carriage authorities, how any real grievance can exist, and it is a pity that short-sighted and cantardierous people give so much trouble to the drivers and the authorities, simply by reason of their inability to appreciate the fact that a taximeter is a time-and-distance recorder, and that the clockwork takes up the story at the rate, in London, of 2d. for each 21 minutes elapsed whenever the speed of the vehicle over the road falls below six miles an hour. Typical instruments were described and illustrated in our issues of the 23rd July and 27th August last : a study of anatomies " and the functions of the parts might welI be commended to those who " think they know."