Thus, however the matter rested, till the ninth year of Queen Anne, 1710, when a Statute was made, which brought the business to its present standard, with a few variations, which will be observed in the order of time. By this Act every circumstance was new modelled; for thereby the Crown was impowered to appoint five Commissioners for regulating and licensing both Hackney Coaches and Chairs, from the time the late Statute of the fifth of William and Mary should expire, _viz._ at Midsummer A. D. 1715, authorizing such Commissioners to grant licences to eight hundred Hackney Coaches from that time for the term of thirty-two years, which should be allowed to be driven in the Cities of London and Westminster, and the Suburbs thereof, or any where within the Bills of Mortality; each Coach paying for such privilege the sum of five shillings _per_ week[368]. It was at the same time enacted, that from the 24th of June, 1711, all _horses_ to be used with an Hackney Coach shall be fourteen hands high, according to the standard; and further, that every _Coach_ and _Chair_ shall have a mark of distinction, "by _figure_ or otherwise," as the Commissioners shall think fit; and "the said _mark_ shall be placed on each side of every such Coach and Chair respectively, in the most convenient place to be taken notice of, to the end that they may be known if any complaints shall be made of them[369]." [368] By Monthly Payments. [369] The Figures of the Chairs are too small and inconspicuous; there should be one both on the outside and inside of each. This was all that could then be done respecting the _Coaches_, forasmuch as the old term of twenty-one years, granted in the fifth year of William and Mary, 1694, was subsisting, whereby seven hundred Coaches were allowed, and for which privilege the Owners had paid fifty pounds each, on whom Government shewed some tenderness. With regard, however, to regulation, &c. there was, no doubt, room sufficient for the exercise of the powers given to the Commissioners. There was, likewise, another object involved in this Statute; _viz._ the _Chairs_, which were not comprehended in the same agreement and contract with the Coaches, but were open immediately to new laws. Therefore under the same commissions was placed the management and licensing of the Hackney Chairs, to commence from the 24th of June in the following year, 1711, for the said term of thirty-two years; which were thereby limited to the number of _two hundred_, each paying for such licence the annual sum of ten shillings[370]. As the number of both Coaches and Chairs was enlarged, whereby many new persons would come forward, perhaps to the ousting of the old Coach-Masters and Chair-Masters, it is required by this Act that the Commissioners shall give a preference to such of the Lessees, as I may call them, whose terms had not then expired, whether the right remained in themselves or their widows, if they applied within a given time[371].