News contributions are invited : payment be made on publication.
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Taximeter Tampering Case.
After having absconded from his bail and having been re-arrested on a warrant, Ellerington, late driver in the employ of the General Motor Cab Co., was charged last week with unlawfully omitting certain material particulars from a certain account, to wit, a taximeter. When the prisoner was arrested on the "Oceanic," off Plymouth, and when the warrant was read to him, he replied : "Now you have caught me again I intend to plead guilty to falsification and larceny, but not to conspiracy, as Y do not intend to he punished for what Alcorn has done I have paid him sums of money from faked uneue..rs, but I have never received anything from him."
The Strike in Paris.
The recent short strikes of taxicab drivers in Paris were, according to our correspondentin that city, regarded by the majority of the drivers as a pleasant relief from the monotony of their daily routine. The strikes were against the city authorities, and not against the cab companies. Benzol is nsed on practically all the taxicabs in Paris instead of petrol, and the fuel is bought and paid for by the men. The first cost of the former fuel is lower, and in addition to that. the city tax on it is only 10f. 20c per 100 litres (practically only 4.7d per gallon) compared with the tax of 10f. 80c. per 100 litres for petrol. The Municipal Council recently increased the tax on benzol to nearly the same as that on petrol. The Conseil d'Etat ordered a revision of this regulation, but the Prefect of the Seine finally decided that the benzol tax should be 1M. Sac. The liberty of the Freneh subject is exemplified by the manner in which (he few drivers who did not think fit to join the movement were treated. Their cabs were stopped, passengers turned out, and the tires were dismounted from the wheels.
In view of the order for 500 taxicabs which Charron, Ltd., has received from Russia, additional interest may be attached to the above illustration of a new Charron engine. These new taxicabs are to be luxuriously finished BO as to equal, if not to excel, other vehicles of similar type. In the standard 1911 15 h.p. type the four-cylinder engine of 31 in. bore and 4 n. stroke is fitted. The valves are all encased on the inlet side.
For Aerocabs.
Bruhn's Taxameter Ltd., has supplied to the British and Colonial Aeroplane Co., Ltd., an " aero-taximeter." The officials of the taximeter company claim that this order marks the advent of a new type of public-service vehicle, and they suggest that its name should be the " taxiplane."
Not Skilled, Merely Novel.
A conclusive summing up of the rights and wrongs of the claims which are at present being urged by taxicab drivers in London with regard to the conditions of their employment, appeared in a recent issue of the "Morning Post," and it may be useful, as an indication of considered public opinion on this matter, to quote certain passages from the article in question.
"It is pretended that the taxicab driver's lot is a very ill-paid one unless he receives from his employer, who takes all financial risks, £2 12s. 6d. a week certain wages, to which have to be added his tips ; yet the calling is one which calls for a minimum of physical exertion or activity, r robably one of the lowest standards ofeducation, and is, in addition, particularly healthy, in that all the talk about exposure is the veriest nonsense, the construction of thecabs and the men's equipment being such as adequately to protect them from wet, and for the rest it is impossible to name a calling that is healthier. The fact is. that the men have a wholly inflated idea of the value of their services to the community. The driving of •
motoreab is not a skilled oceupa• tion ; it is merely a novel one."