Motorcab
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The Suburban Taxi-Cab Company, Limited, is a new registration with a capital of 23,000 in £1 shares. The registered offices are at Albert Street, Didsbury, near Manchester.
The Provincial Cab Company has received an intimation from the municipal authorities at Birkenhead that they are prepared to grant licenses for 12 motorcabs to ply for hire in the borough, subject to approval as to the -design of the machines.
Considerable opposition is evident in Nottingham towards the decision of the local authorities not to license -taxicabs for service in that town. Many local residents consider that the horse cabs should forthwith be consigned to the scrap heap.
" A Purely Boyish Adventure."
On Saturday last at the West London Police Court a boy of 13 years of .age was charged on remand with stealing a taxicab, worth £300, belonging to Arthur Bernard Weaver, of Fulham. The prisoner was further charged with wilfully damaging the cab to the extent of £10. The boy, and a youthful friend of his, took the cab out of a garage at Earl's Court after the owner had left it there for the night. These young desperadoes drove the cab about all night and part of the next day. When the culprit was apprehended by the police, it was found that two tires were missing from the cab, the brasswork had been stripped off the radiator, water pipes had been smashed, and other damage had been done to the engine, which had been running without oil or water. Mr. Lane, K.C., the magistrate, said he regarded the affair as a purely boyish adventure, and he should bind the defendant over to come up for judgment if called upon.
General Motorcab Company.
The current traffic returns of the General Motorcab Company are sent to us as follow Week ending Saturday, 1st May, £16,114.
Previous week, £16,582.
Corresponding week, 1908, £11,714. Decrease on previous week, £169. Increase on corresponding week
1908, £4,400.
Total receipts from 1st August, 1008, £336,500.
-lucre:1SC on previous corresponding period, £233,428.
It should be noted that the above figures take no account of the average number of cabs in service for the respeetive periods.
Hackney Carriages at Birming ham.
At the last meeting of the Watch Committee of the Birmingham City Council it was reported that the licenses of two taxicab drivers had been revoked subsequent to a conviction for drunkenness in each case. We are glad to note that the committee also expressed its serious intention. in future, to take away his license from any driver who is convicted of insobriety. Several local organisations have approached the Council with a request that separate cab ranks shall be provided for taxicabs in the interests both of the horse-cab drivers and of the public.
Leeds Cab-fare Changes.
The extortionate nature of the horse-cab fares in Leeds has long been renowned. The Leeds City Council is now considering a new set of by-laws which shall revise the fare schedule for its cabs and omnibuses. The new regulations will probably contain one which provides that, when a cab is hired by time, in addition to the time charge, the cabman shall be entitled to charge half the mileage rate from the point where the " fare " alighted to that at which the cab was hired.
The "Cabby" Relief Fund.
The relief fund, inaugurated by " The Daily Mail " to assist the older London cabmen whose means of livelihood have been prejudiced by the introduction of the taxicab, is already well on the way to a total sum of £10,000. A special matinee is being organised by Mr. Seymour Hicks at the .Aldwych Theatre, for to-morrow (Friday). Although, as we have already agreed, the lot of some of these older men is now very hard. it would seem that the present conditions might have been considerably mitigated had taximeters been made compulsory for horse cabs, when such a course was first proposed. The Committee of the
society' of Motor Manufacturers and Traders voted 20 guineas to " The Daily Mail '' fund.
Opposition to the granting of taxicab licenses in Chester has so resulted that the application of the Chester Motorcab Company for three licenses has been deferred for two months. The Dee Motor Company was granted licenses for two cabs.
Motorcabs for Brussels.'
Subscriptions have been invited this week to the Biiissels Motor Cab Company. Limited, which proposes to place on the streets of the Belgian capital no less than 230 cabs. These are to be Chevrons and Metallurgigues. In February last we commented upon the foolishly-antagonistic attitude which was then being taken up by the horse cabmen against the introduction of mechanically-propelled hackney carriages into Bras
se's. The concessions for the right to run cab services in the capital and its vicinity are in the hands of several independent local authorities, and a number of different tariffs is in force. Two of the directors of the new company are Mr. Davison Dalziel and Sir William Bell, of the General Motor Cab Company and the Provincial Motor Cab Company respectively. The total authorised capital of the company is I150,000. The gross profit per cab per day is put at 28s.