749 



STAGE CARRIAGE. 



STAGE CARRIAGE. 



750 



for several years it was reduced to a single company, which was 

 charged with the duty of repairing the military canal at Hythe. This 

 company was afterwards incorporated with the corps of sappers and 

 miners. 



The duties of officers belonging to the quartermaster-general's staff, 

 though in certain respects similar, are different from those of the 

 military engineers ; the latter are employed in the construction of 

 permanent fortifications, batteries, and field-works ; while the former 

 survey ground in order to discover roads, or sites for military positions, 

 for fields of battle, or quarters for the troops. The education of a 

 staff-officer is such as may qualify him for appreciating the military 

 character of ground : for this purpose he learns to trace the directions 

 of roads and the courses of rivers or streams ; and in mountainous 

 countries to distinguish the principal chains from their ramifications, 

 to examine the entrances of gorges, and to determine the heights of 

 eminences or the depths of ravines. He has, besides, to acquire a 

 facility in determining or estimating the resources of a district with 

 respect to the means it affords of supplying provisions or quarters for 

 the troops. [RECONNAISSANCE.] 



The staff-officer ought also to know how to correct the illusions to 

 which the eye is subject in examining ground, from the different states 

 of the air, and the number and nature of the objects which may inter- 

 vene between himself and those whose positions are required. He 

 ought to be able to estimate the number of men whom a visible tract 

 of ground can contain, and to form a judgment concerning the 

 dispositions and stratagems which it may permit an army to put in 

 practice. 



STAGE CARRIAGE. Although the law regards differently a stage 

 carriage and a hackney carriage, we may conveniently treat of both 

 here. The former group comprises stage coaches and omnibuses, for the 

 use of which passengers pay at the rate of so much per journey ; the 

 latter group comprises haci-n'.y coaches and cabs, for which passengers 

 pay either at no much per mile or so much per quarter of an hour. 

 As to coaches generally, it needs simply to be observed here, that they 

 introduced into England about 1570, and that a long time 

 elapsed before their use became customary among wealthy persons. 



Hackney Carriage*. The derivation of the word Hackney, as 

 applied to a class of public conveyances, has occasioned much specula- 

 tion. The suburb of Hackney ; the French Ifacquenie and 1/a'jite, 

 both derived from the Latin, tquiu, a horse ; and the Anglo-Saxon 

 l'-ut for "neighing" have been severally proposed as the 

 probable origin for the name. However this may be, it is sufficiently 

 evident that the term hackney was first applied to horses let for hire, 

 ami then, by a very natural transition, extended to coaches, and 

 subsequently to sedan-chairs, employed in a similar way. 



Hackney carriages appear to have originated in London. It was in 

 1625 that they began to ply in London streets, or rather at the inns, 

 to be called for as they were wanted ; and they were at this time only 

 twenty in number. In 1634 sedan-chairs appear, for the first time, to 

 have entered into competition with hackney-coaches, the sole privilege 

 being granted in that year to Sir Sanders Duncomb. In the following 

 fear an attempt was made to check the increasing annoyance 

 occasioned by the " general and promiscuous use of coaches " by a 

 proclamation from the king (Charles I.) that no hackney or hired coach 

 I be used in London, Westminster, or the suburbs, unless it 

 engaged to travel at least three miles out of the same ; and that 

 every hackney-coach owner should constantly maintain four able horses 

 for the royal service when required. Finding it impossible to prevent 

 the use of BO great a convenience, a commission was issued to the 

 master of the horse in 1637 to grant licences to fifty hackney-coach- 

 men in and about London and Westminster, and as many others as 

 might be needful in other places in England, each coachman being 

 allowed to keep not more than twelve horses. In 1652 the number of 

 hackney-coaches daily plying in the streets was limited to 200 ; in 

 1 1 wag increased to 300, allowing however only 600 horses ; and 

 an increase was at different times allowed till 1771, when the number 

 of coaches was further increased to 1000. Notwithstanding this steady 

 increase in the use of hackney-coaches, they were long assailed as 

 public nuisances. 



The first hackney-coach stand was established in 1634, by one 

 Captain Baily, near the May-pole in the Strand. Even so late as 1660 

 Charles II. issued a proclamation against hackney-coaches standing in 

 the streets to be hired. The monopoly long enjoyed by the London 

 hackney-coachmen produced great indifference to the increasing wants 

 dt th community ; even down to the year 1823, while that monopoly 

 was undisturbed, hackney-coaches appear to have sunk lower and 

 lower in the scale of efficiency. 



While this was the state of things in London, a lighter kind of 

 .vn by one horse, called cabriolets de place, had been brought 

 \ten.five use in Paris. But it was not till 1823, and then with 

 great difficulty, that licences were obtained for eight cabriolets to be 

 started at fares one-third lower than those of hackney-coaches. The 

 new vehicle was a hooded chaise, drawn by one horse, and carrying 

 only one passenger besides the driver, who sat in the cabriolet (or, as 

 more commonly called for brevity, the cal>), with his fare. An improved 

 build was soon introduced, by which room was provided for a second 

 p monger, and the driver was separated from the fare. With the 

 rapid extension of this lighter class of vehicles, numerous varieties of 



construction have been introduced, in which comfortable and safe 

 accommodation, with complete shelter from the weather and separation 

 from the driver, is provided for two, three, or four persons. The name 

 cab is still commonly applied 'to all hackney-carriages drawn by one 

 horse, whether on two or four wheels. During the first few years 

 of the employment of such carriages their number was restricted to 

 65, while the number of coach-licences was increased to 1200 ; but in 

 1832 all restriction as to the number of hackney carriages was 

 removed. 



Since the year 1822 hackney carriage-drivers have been required to 

 deposit any articles which may be accidentally left in their vehicles 

 with the registrar of licences, to whom the owners of the lost property 

 may apply for its restoration. The property thus recovered has often 

 exceeded 10,OOOJ. in a single year. To lessen the risk in reference to 

 one important department of hackney carriage business, the railway 

 companies which have termini in London enter into arrangements by 

 which a limited number of carriages, driven only by men of well 

 attested respectability, are allowed to stand within their stations, to 

 convey passengers to their respective destinations, under a system of 

 supervision so strict, that any case of misconduct or overcharge is 

 almost certain to be brought home to the guilty party. 



The hackney carriages of the metropolis are now regulated as to 

 vehicles, drivers, and fares by the Act 16 & 17 Viet. c. 33,(1853). Every 

 owner of a stage-carriage must be licensed. On applying to the 

 Commissioners of Police for a licence, his vehicle is to be inspected ; 

 if it be approved on inspection, the Commissioners grant a certificate, 

 stating how many persons the vehicle is permitted to carry. On the 

 presentation of this certificate, the Board of Inland Revenue grants a 

 licence. The police commissioners are empowered, at any time deemed 

 by them proper, to order an inspection of metropolitan stage and 

 hackney-carriages and horses ; if any are found in improper condition, 

 notice thereof is sent to the proprietor ; if he neglect to attend to this 

 warning, the commissioners may suspend his licence for a stated time, 

 and take away his Stamp Office plate until after the expiration of that 

 time. The fares for hackney-carriages are fixed at 6d. for every mile 

 or fraction of a mile, or 2s. per hour. Back fares are disallowed ; but 

 Qd. per quarter of an hour is allowed for detention. Each hackney- 

 carriage is to be provided with a table of fares, and each driver with a 

 book of fares, which he is to produce when required. The driver 

 must not refuse to carry a fare, if the distance be within six miles or 

 the time within an hour ; beyond these limits he may exercise an 

 option. When hired by time, the driver is not bound to go more than 

 four miles an hour, unless paid 6d. per mile extra. The driver is to 

 give a ticket to his fare, inscribed with the Stamp Office number of the 

 carriage. The carriage must contain, in writing, a notification of the 

 number of persons it may carry at once. A reasonable quantity of 

 luggage is to be taken free of charge. Property left in carriages is to 

 be accounted for, by the driver, under certain regulations. Lamps are 

 to be lighted in or on the carriages at night. The police are to have 

 control over all the coach-stands. In the cases where a hackney- 

 carriage is drawn by more than one horse, an addition of one- third may 

 be made to the fare. The driver may refuse to charge by time instead 

 of distance, between eight in the evening and six in the morning. If 

 more than two persons ride in a hackney carriage, ad. for each is 

 charged (over any distance) beyond the regular fare. All these pro- 

 visions are enforced by fine or imprisonment. 



The above act related chiefly to hackney-carriages in connection 

 with the public. Another, relating to their connection with the 

 revenue, was passed in the same year (16 & 17 Viet. c. 127). The old 

 duties (51. for a licence, and 10. per week) were repealed, and lower 

 duties imposed. The licence for every hackney-carriage is to be 21., 

 and the duty is to be 6*. or 7., according as the carriage is to be 

 worked six or seven days in a week. Every licence is for one year 

 only, and is to be renewed annually. The number-plate is proof of 

 the licence. Drivers are entitled to charge \s. per mile instead of 6d. 

 for any portion of their route beyond four miles from Charing Cross ; 

 provided the carriage is discharged beyond that limit. A proprietor 

 must not withdraw his hackney-carriage from plying, beyond one day 

 at a time, without giving notice of his intention to that effect. 



We must here state that hackney carriages, as regulated by law, 

 comprise only those which work within the police limits of the metro- 

 polis. Beyond those limits, the owners have to pay post-horse duty 

 [POSTING], and possibly some local tax imposed by municipal authori- 

 ties; but none of the duties mentioned in this article. The sum 

 contributed to the national revenue by the London cabs (for in the 

 middle of I860 there was only one pair-horse hackney-coach left) is 

 considerable. The duty of a shilling a day brings in about 80,0002. 

 or 85,000 per annum ; while the cab licence, and the drivers' and 

 watermen's licences, raise this to about 4000J. more. There were rather 

 over 5100 London cabs in the middle of 1860. The drivers are more 

 numerous than the cabs ; for there are often a day driver and a night 

 driver for the same vehicle. The six-day cabs, which do not run on 

 Sundays, bear for distinction numbers expressed by five figures, 

 beginning with 10,000. Of the sum realised by the government from 

 the metropolitan cabs, about 13,000^. is annually handed over to the 

 Commissioners of Police, to defray the expenses of supervision, water- 

 men, coach-stands, &c. It is computed that seven horses are on an 

 average kept for three cabs. Some of the cab-masters own above 



