The new Cab regulations do not seem to work well
at all. Mr. Bruce's extraordinary idea of allowing passengers to steal the fare of any cabman who may take them up in the street has been declared illegal by one magistrate, and is clearly contrary to the first principles both of justice and of government. The police, therefore, are summoning the crawlers, and from sixty to sixty-five cabbies are fined every day on the charge of being too accommo- dating to the public. Then the flag with the price on it, which was the main point in the new rules, is of no use whatever, half the cabmen not carrying it, and the other half letting it lie down all the day through,—a bad because a conspicuous instance of unpunished contempt for law. If this kind of thing goes on, there will be another strike directly, for it must be remembered Mr. Lowe's reductions do not go to the cabdrivers, but to the cab- masters, who as yet have given nothing in return. Fortunately, the House of Commons uses cabs, and will probably return to the old system, which only required stricter inspection.
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