630 CARRIAGES AND HORSES KEPT IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
ercise of care, prudence, and attention, the virulence of the disease 
will, we are sure, be much abated, and its progress checked. And 
although we can scarcely hope at once to banish it from the land, 
we may, at all events, greatly mitigate its ravages, and alleviate 
the sufferings of a class of animals whose existence and well-being 
are of so much national importance.” 
Home Extracts. 
Carriages and Horses kept in Great Britain. 
[From the Morning Chronicle, 10th October, 1850.] 
ACCORDING to the Government returns, the total number of car- 
riages throughout Great Britain in 1848 was 149,000 and odd, which 
is in the proportion of 1 carriage to every 33 males of the entire 
population above twenty years of age. Of these carriages upwards 
of 97,000 were charged with duty, and yielded a revenue of more 
than £434,000, while 52,000 were exempt from taxation Those 
charged with duty consisted of 67,000 four-wheeled carriages (of 
which 26,000 were private conveyances and 41,000 let to hire) ; 
and 30,000 two-wheeled carriages, of which 24,500 were for pri- 
vate use, and 5,500 for the use of the public. 
The 41,000 four-wheeled carriages, let to hire, were subdivided, 
in round numbers, as follows : — 
Four-wheeled carriages let to hire without horses 500 
Pony phaetons, &c. drawn by a pair 2000 
Broughams, flies, &c., drawn by one horse 30,000 
Hearses 1700 
Post-chaises 5550 
Carriers’ conveyances 1250 
41,000 
Of the 52,000 carriages exempt from taxation there was the fol- 
lowing distribution : — 
Private pony phaetons 7000 
Ditto pony chaises 4500 
Chaise carts 39,000 
Conveyances for paupers and criminals 1500 
52,000 
The owners of four-wheeled private carriages were, it appears 
from the same returns, 20,739 ; of whom 
16,349 persons kept 1 carriage 
3685 „ 2 „ 
495 „ 3 „ 
116 „ 4 „ 
58 persons kept 5 carriages 
19 „ 6 „ 
6 7 
11 „ 8 and upwards 
