A

BILL

For regulating Hackney and Stage Carriages
in and near London.

[Note.-The Words printed in Italics are proposed to be inserted in the Committee.]

W

CRCAs the Provisions for licensing the Drivers, Con- Preamble. ductors and Watermen of Public Carriages, in and near Lon

1.

1 & 2 Vict. c. 79.

don, need to be amended; Be it Enacted, by The QUEEN's most Excellent MAJESTY, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords 5 Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, THAT an Act passed in the Repeal of second year of the reign of Her Majesty, intituled, "An Act for the better Regulation of Hackney Carriages, and of Metropolitan Stage Carriages, and of Waggons, Carts and Drays, used in and near the 10 Metropolis, and of Drivers and Attendants thereof," shall be repealed: Provided always, That all Licenses and Tickets granted under the said Act shall continue in force for the time for which they were originally granted (if not sooner suspended or revoked), or until new Licenses and Tickets shall be issued instead of them under this Act, and that 15 all offences against the provisions of the said Act, committed before the passing of this Act, may be punished as if this Act had not been passed.

And be it Enacted, That the words hereinafter mentioned, which in their usual signification have a more confined or different meaning, 20 shall in this Act (except where the nature of the provisions or the context of the Act shall exclude such construction), be interpreted as follows; (that is to say) the words "Hackney Carriage" shall include every Carriage (except a Stage Carriage), which shall stand on hire or ply for a passenger for hire at any place within the Metropolitan Police District; and the words " Metropolitan Stage Carriage" shall 389. include

A

3. Certain Provisions of

1 & 2 W. 4, e. 22, extended to this Act.

4.

Title and place of

abode of a Peer of the

5

include every Stage Carriage, except such as shall on every journey
go to or come from some town or place beyond the Metropolitan Police
District; and the word "Proprietor" shall include every person who,
either alone or in partnership with any other person, shall keep any
Hackney Carriage or any Metropolitan Stage Carriage, or who shall be
concerned otherwise than as a driver or attendant in employing for hire
any Hackney Carriage or any Metropolitan Stage Carriage; and the
word "Conductor" shall include every director or other person, except
the driver, who shall attend upon the passengers in any Metropolitan
Stage Carriage; and the word "Waterman" shall include every person 10
supplying water to the drivers of Hackney Carriages at the standings
or places where Hackney Carriages usually stand or ply for hire, and
every person assisting the drivers at such standings in the manage-
ment of the Horses or Carriages, and every attendant upon any
Metropolitan Stage Carriage at places where such Carriages usually 15
stop and ply for passengers; and the word " Passenger" shall
include every person carried by any Hackney Carriage, or by any
Metropolitan Stage Carriage, except One driver, and, where there shall
be a conductor to such Metropolitan Stage Carriage, One conductor;
and the word "Horse" shall include every mare and gelding; and
every word importing the singular number only, shall extend and be
applied to several persons and things, as well as to one person or thing;
and every word importing the masculine gender only, shall extend
to a female as well as to a male.

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And be it Enacted, That so much of an Act passed in the second 25 year of the reign of his late Majesty, intituled, "An Act to amend the Laws relating to Hackney Carriages, and to Waggons, Carts and Drays, used in the Metropolis, and to place the Collection of the Duties on Hackney Carriages, and on Hawkers and Pedlars, in England, under the Commissioners of Stamps," as relates to Hackney Carriages, and to 30 watermen, shall extend and apply to Hackney Carriages and to watermen within the meaning of this Act.

AND whereas by the said recited Act passed in the reign of his late Majesty it was enacted, that the owner of every Waggon, Cart, Realm paint- Car, Dray, or other Carriage, should, before any such Carriage should 35 ed on any be driven or used in any public street or road, within the distance of Five Carriage, &c., to be deemed Miles from the General Post Office, in the city of London, paint or cause a compliance with the to be painted, in words at full length, and in one or more straight line provisions or lines, upon some conspicuous place on the right or off-side of every such Carriage, clear of the wheel or wheels thereof, or upon the right 40 or off-side shaft thereof, the true christian name and surname and place of abode of the owner, or, if there be more than one, of the principal owner of such Carriage, in the manner in such Act directed; BE it Enacted, That in all cases where the owner of any such Carriage shall be a Peer of the Realm, or shall be known or usually designated by

of the Act.

some

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some title of rank, it shall be deemed to be a compliance with the provisions of the aforesaid Act, that the title only and place of abode of such Peer or other person shall be painted in the manner therein described upon any such Waggon, Wain, Cart, or other Carriage.

of Registrar,
Deputy
Registrar
Officers.

and other

5. And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for one of Her Majesty's Appointment Principal Secretaries of State from time to time to appoint a fit person to be the Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages, and also all such Officers as the said Secretary shall deem necessary for the assistance of such Registrar in the due execution of this Act; 10 and in the case of any authorized absence from his office, or temporary inability of the said Registrar, it shall be lawful for the said Secretary of State to appoint such person as he shall think fit to act as the Deputy of the said Registrar, during such absence or inability of the Registrar to act, and such person while he shall so act shall have the 15 same powers and authority as the said Registrar; and the said Secretary may, at his discretion, remove any such Registrar, Deputy Registrar, or any of the said Officers, and upon any vacancy occasioned by such removal or otherwise, appoint some other fit person to be such Registrar, Deputy Registrar or Officer: Provided always, That the 20 Registrar and other Officers appointed under the Act hereby repealed, shall continue to occupy the same offices under this Act, without any appointment, until discharged by due course of law.

6.

And be it Enacted, That the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Salaries. 25 Treasury shall appoint such salaries to be paid to the said Registrar, Deputy Registrar and Officers, as they shall think proper; which salaries, together with such other expenses in and about the execution of this Act, as the said Commissioners of the Treasury shall direct, shall be paid by the Commissioners of Stamps and Taxes 30 out of any monies to arise from any of the duties under their care and management.

And be it Enacted, That the proprietor of every Metropolitan Stage Carriage shall keep distinctly painted, both on the outside and inside of the same, in such a manner and in such a position as shall 35 from time to time be directed by the Registrar, the words "Metropolitan Stage Carriage," or such other words as the Registrar shall direct, together with the number of the Stamp Office plate relating to such Carriage, and the number of passengers which it is licensed to carry inside and outside respectively, and shall also on the inside of every 40 such Carriage keep distinctly painted in a conspicuous manner a table of fares to be demanded of passengers by such Carriage, and the fares therein specified shall be deemed to be the only lawful fares, and may be recovered, as in the case of Hackney Carriages, in a summary way, before any Justice of the Peace; and every proprietor

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making

8.

Registrar to grant Licenses

and Tickets.

9.

Stamp Duty

of Five Shil

lings on every License

granted under this Act.

making default in the premises shall forfeit the sum of Twenty Shillings
for every offence.

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And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Registrar to
grant a License to act as driver of Hackney Carriages, or as driver or as
conductor of Metropolitan Stage Carriages or as waterman (as the case
may be), to any person who shall produce such a certificate as shall
satisfy the said Registrar of his good behaviour and fitness for such
situation respectively: Provided always, That no person shall be
licensed as such driver as aforesaid, who is under Sixteen Years of age;
and in every such License shall be specified the number of such License, 10
and the proper name and surname, and place of abode, and
age, and
a description of the person to whom such License shall be granted,
and, in the case of a waterman, of the standing or place at which he
shall be thereby authorized to act as a waterman, and the nature of
his duties; and every such License shall bear date on the day on which 15
the same shall be granted, and shall continue in force until and upon
the First day of June next after the date thereof, or if granted in the
month of May in any year, then to continue in force until and upon
the First day of June in the year next following that in which the same
shall be granted, except in either case the same shall be sooner revoked, 20
and except the time (if any) during which any such License shall be
suspended; and on every License of a driver or conductor the Registrar
shall cause proper columns to be prepared, in which every proprietor
employing the driver or conductor named in such License shall enter
his own name and address, and the days on which such driver or con- 25
ductor shall enter, and shall quit his service respectively; and in case
any of the particulars entered or indorsed upon any License in
pur-
suance of this Act shall be erased or defaced, every such License shall
be wholly void and of none effect; and the said Registrar shall, at the
time of granting any License, deliver to the driver, conductor or water- 30
man, to whom the same shall be granted, an abstract of the laws in
force relating to such driver, conductor or waterman, and of the
penalties to which he is liable for any misconduct, and also a metal
Ticket, upon which there shall be marked or engraved his office
or employment, and a number corresponding with the number which 35
shall be inserted in such License.

And be it Enacted, That there shall be charged upon and in respect
of License to be granted under the authority of this Act, except
every
as hereinafter provided, a Duty of Five Shillings, and that the same
shall be under the care and management of the Commissioners of 40
Stamps and Taxes, and shall be deemed to be a Stamp Duty, and shall
be within the provisions of all Acts for raising, levying or securing the
Stamp Duties, or any of them; and the said Commissioners, upon
application for that purpose made by the said Registrar, shall issue to

him

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him vellum, parchment or paper for such Licenses, duly stamped, for denoting the Duties charged by this Act, either upon the present payment of the Duties payable on such Licenses, or upon giving such security for the payment thereof, and upon such terms and subject to such regulations as the said Commissioners shall think proper: Provided always, That in case any person shall apply for a new License who shall have been previously licensed, and shall either not have returned his metal Ticket on the expiration of his former License, or, if such License be still in force, shall not have returned the requisition 10 for a new License on the day appointed for that purpose by the Registrar, or shall not apply for his new License on the day in like manner appointed for that purpose, it shall be lawful for the Registrar to charge him any additional sum for his License not exceeding Five Shillings.

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And be it Enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any person to act as driver of any Hackney Carriage, or as driver or conductor of any Metropolitan Stage Carriage, whether such person shall or shall not be the proprietor of such Carriage, or for any person to act as a waterman, within the limits of this Act, unless in each case such person shall have 20 a License so to do, and a numbered Ticket granted to him under the authority of this Act, and remaining in force; and every person who shall act as such driver or conductor or waterman, without such License and Ticket, and also every person to whom any such License and Ticket shall have been granted, who shall, except in compliance with 25 the provisions of this Act, transfer or lend such License, or permit any other person to use or wear such Ticket, shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of Five Pounds; and every proprietor who shall knowingly suffer any person not duly licensed under the authority of this Act to act as driver of any Hackney Carriage, or as driver or as 30 conductor of any Metropolitan Stage Carriage, of which he shall be the proprietor, shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of Ten Pounds.

And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Registrar, if he shall deem it expedient for the good conduct of any standing, to remove 35 any waterman from such standing, and to appoint him to any other standing, and to endorse such removal upon his License; and any waterman neglecting to produce his License for the purpose of making such endorsement upon it, when required so to do by the Registrar, shall forfeit Forty Shillings.

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And be it Enacted, That in case of the temporary inability of any waterman, it shall be lawful for the Registrar to issue to any competent person an unstamped License to act in the place of such waterman, for such a period as the Registrar shall think fit, and to recall

389.

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the