Topics.
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A fleet of 18 h.p. Dennis cabs is on order for Sydney (N.S.W.), and one of the same model is on order for Barnsley (Yorks).
There are now 49 less horse-drawn cabs in Edinburgh than was the ease a year ago, whilst motorcabs have increased from two to 52.
Gormly and May, Ltd., which company has acquired the undertaking of the Lancashire Taxicab Co., has moved to more commodious premises at the Hatfield Garage, Smithdown Road, Liverpool.
On the 26th ult., at Newcastle-onTyne, under the management of Mr. Donald Brown, the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., inaugurated the longexpected service with Darracq vehicles. The minimum fare is 6d.
A Yorkshire Transaction.
The Northern Motoreab and Transport Co., Ltd., of Bradford, a few months ago, hired one of its 12 h.p. Rover cabs to a Mr. W. Walker, a Leeds accountant, at a minimum rate of £10 per week. This cab, it appeared from evidence that was given in the Bradford County Court last week, was at the disposal of Mr. Walker from the 14th February to the 4th June. The proprietary company sought to recover £100, and the County Court Judge found in its favour for such a sum as might be proved to be due on the takings. The defendant contended that the agreement had been varied, and that there was ample justification for the refusal to pay on the original terms.
Five licences have been granted to the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., at Bedford. A Mr. Frederick Hughes was also granted 12 licences.
The New York Taxicab Company now has 700 vehicles in service. The company has experienced unusual difficulties since it began operations in October, 1907, but has managed to make a gross trading profit of i!42,000 on its last year's working. This cannot be regarded as sufficient to meet depreciation and other charges, as £13,200 is otherwise absorbed.
Chromatic Taxis.
" Colours dance a witches' Sabbath in Berlin. Into the city's din the palette emits screams of joy, and besprinkles the commonplace with bold splashes of colour. From the tubes ooze chromatic orgies. . . Berlin struts before the golden calf like a bird of paradise displaying his plumage before the hen. . . The motor taxicabs have become Berlin's chromatic sign. Back to the blissful days when one waited three-quarters of an hour on the Potsdarner Plata and yearned for an auto .—when, with the patience of Job, one wandered through the city in search of a solitary specimen of the kind, back to that automobile time the memory of the fast-living citizen of to-day scarcely reaches. And yet it was so ; one waited for a " stink-cab " (thus uncharitably did the vox pop uli speak of the newcomers!). And today ? Ah! to-day there stands at almost every street corner a haughty row of splendid autotaxis and—waits for the passenger ! The mutual ratios of supply and demand are reversed, supply now outrunning demand. As from a paint box, the proud, vehicular citadel glows. All shades are repres sented : burning red, lovely blue, sweet terra cotta, poisoneus green, aristocratic dark blue, and innocent white. White autos, indeed, are much in vogue. Ladies, married and single, especially the unwedded, prefer the white. . . Berlin is proud of her paint-box autos.' —Edmmid Edel, in the " -Berliner Tagehlatt."
Progress at Ipswich.
The Ipswich Watch Committee, on Friday last, approved one of the new 12-16 h.p. four-cylinder Darracq cabs. This was submitted by Mr. W. H. Cocking, on behalf of the Provincial Motor Cab Co., Ltd., and the Committee agreed to license 10 such vehicles. The fare-schedule will be is. for the first mile or less, and 3d. per added quarter-mile or less, with a " waiting " charge of 4s. per hour.
General Cab Debentures.
The prospectus for the Debenture issue of the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., with which we dealt in advance a fortnight ago, was circulated last week. We entirely fail to see how the directors will be able to redeem these debentures according to the estimates put down, as the company will have to face increasing competition, apart from the fact that it has experienced very serious trouble with some of the models of which it owns large numbers. The scheme, in our view, is not only optimistic hut impossible.