“Well, what have you done with it?” “Bought a new pair of boots; and”--sticking out his feet--“look, my lord, they’re Russells, not Wellingtons.” Lord John Russell smiled and walked away, leaving “Palace Yard Jack” to boast of his smartness. In 1860 there were upwards of 4300 licensed cabs in London, and 200 cabstands. Three years later Mr. Thomas Tilling started four cabs, and at the present day his successors, Thomas Tilling, Limited, possess over sixty. The minimum cab fare of one shilling was introduced in 1867. For that sum a passenger could ride two miles, the fare for any additional distance ridden being sixpence a mile or part of a mile. This abolition of sixpenny fares gave great satisfaction to cabmen; but another regulation filled them with indignation. In December, 1867, Parliament gave power to the Chief Commissioner of Police to insist upon all cabs carrying, between sunset and sunrise, “at least one lamp properly trimmed and lighted.” Hansoms, or the majority of them, had for many years carried a lamp, but the proprietors and drivers of four-wheelers protested strongly against being put to the expense while vans and private carriages were permitted to be without lights. The hansom drivers supported the four-wheeler men, and on December 3 the whole of the cabmen went on strike. A promise was immediately made that the Police order should not be enforced, and on December 5 the men returned to work. However, two years later Parliament passed an Act compelling all cabs to carry a lighted lamp from sunset to sunrise. The next strike began in September, 1868, and was an attempt to compel the Railway Companies to abolish the “privilege” system and admit all cabs to their termini. It was, however, shortlived and unsuccessful. On January 1, 1870, a new regulation, compelling all cab proprietors to display inside their vehicles a list of fares, came into force. Four-wheelers were to have them fixed or painted on their doors; hansoms, facing the passengers. By the same Act the cost of licences was reduced from £19 and £17 to £2 2_s._ In the same year the Cab-drivers’ Benevolent Association was founded, to make some provision for deserving aged or infirm cabmen unable to earn their living. The late Marquis of Townshend, a staunch friend of cabmen, took an active part in establishing it, and for many years it was known among cabbies as “The Marquis’s Society.” The objects of the Association, of which His Majesty the King is patron, are (1) to give annuities of £20 each to aged cab-drivers who from infirmity are unable to earn their living; (2) to grant loans, without interest, to members requiring such aid, and to give temporary assistance to those who may be in distress through unavoidable causes; (3) to give legal assistance to members who may be unjustly summoned to the police-courts. In 1900 the Society had sixty-five annuitants, and also granted small loans to seventy-six members, nearly the whole of which were repaid.