Omnibuses and cabs : $b their origin and historyMoore, Henry Charles
History
Omnibuses and cabs : $b their origin and history
Moore, Henry Charles
Cab and omnibus service; Carriages and carts; Horse-drawn omnibuses
May 14 to July 22, 10 weeks at 13_s._ per day.
July 23 “ August 12, 3 “ “ 12_s._ “ “
August 13 “ September 9, 4 “ “ 11_s._ “ “
September 10 “ March 26, 28 “ “ 10_s._ “ “
March 27 “ April 9, 2 “ “ 11_s._ “ “
April 10 “ May 14, 5 “ “ 12_s._ “ “
(2) The net cash price to be paid by driver to owner for rubber-tyred
four-wheeled cabs to be in all cases 1_s._ (one shilling) over the
price for iron-tyred four-wheeled cabs.
(3) The net cash price to be paid by driver to owner for four-wheeled
cabs worked on the one-horse principle to be according to the
subjoined scale:--
June 4 to July 29, 8 weeks at 8_s._ per day
July 30 “ April 2, 35 “ “ 6_s._ 6_d._ “ “
April 3 “ May 7, 5 “ “ 7_s._ “ “
May 8 “ June 3, 4 “ “ 7_s._ 6_d._ “ “
(4) The actual amount charged by the Railway Companies for privileged
cabs to be paid by the drivers to the owners in addition to the above.
Londoners were heartily glad when the strike was at an end; not
because they had suffered very much inconvenience from it, but out of
sympathy for the women and children, for strike pay is not magnificent.
Nevertheless, over a thousand men were thankful to receive it for
many weeks after the strike was concluded. These were men who found
themselves out of work through cab proprietors having sold off their
stock and retired from business in disgust. The balance-sheet of
the Cab-drivers’ Union dealing with the strike showed that £8202 was
received, and £8111 spent from the beginning of the strike until July
28.
The next strike began in September, 1896, and aimed at compelling
the Railway Companies to allow all cabs the privilege of entering
their termini to pick up fares. The drivers refused to work for any
proprietor who had privileged cabs, and pressure was put upon the
drivers of the latter vehicles to cease work until the Railways
agreed to the Union’s demands. The number that did so, however, was
comparatively small. Then the strikers made the great mistake of trying
to get the public on their side by inconveniencing it. They refused to
take people into any terminus in which they were not allowed to pick up
fares, but put them down, luggage and all, outside the premises. But,
to their surprise, they found that their fares refused to pay unless
they were taken right into the station. So that plan was discarded
very quickly. The strike dragged on for many weeks, but the average
Londoner only knew that it existed by seeing Union mottoes adorning
the cabmen’s whips. Eventually it died peacefully of sheer weakness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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