Why do the Police hate " crawlers" so much ?
The cabs so called—cabs seeking a fare—are a nuisance in the City, but an accommodation everywhere else, and Mr. Bruce's plan for abolish- ing them by refusing them all legal claim to their fare is at once an injustice and an absurdity ; an injustice because legal redress for a clear wrong ought never to be refused, and an absurdity because the cabman, if dubious, will ask for his fare in advance. The improvement wanted to diminish " crawling " and to ensure better cabs is an increase in the number of stands, which are at present far too few, so few that competition is almost im- possible. Is it quite so certain as the police assume that the inhabitants of respectable streets dislike cabs ; that the residents of Portland Place, for example, one of the widest streets in town, would rebel against two short stands ? One good thing Mr. Bruce has done, he has forbidden the omnibuses to carry advertise- ments.
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