COACHING BUSINESS. 199 



the general average paid by the London proprietors 

 may be taken at twopence halfpenny. The coach- 

 builder had his coaches running all through the 

 year, and thus earning him money daily, with the 

 certainty where it was a popular and well-established 

 coach that it would continue ; but, on the other hand, 

 if a fresh coach was put on and found not to answer, 

 it would remain on his hands, and could not be put 

 on the road again without undergoing the process of 

 repainting and lettering. In a very few instances 

 coach-proprietors bought the coaches outright, but 

 sometimes one proprietor would have the coach and 

 arrange with his partners to hire it of him at a 

 mileage, as in the ordinary way from a builder. 



Other expenses there were to be provided for 

 before any sharing could take place, such as wages of 

 coachmen and guards, advertising, booking-offices, 

 etc. ; the main expense of getting the coach through 

 the country — that is, horsing it — was different from 

 the foregoing, which may be designated general, 

 being deducted in the first instance out of the total 

 receipts of the whole concern, while the horsing 

 expenses fell upon the different proprietors indi- 

 vidually according to the length of ground they 

 covered. 



The following is a sharing account, as made out 

 amongst all the proprietors; but it appears to be for 



