" tr.:be spectator, April 2itb, 1853
Tiir great Cab question is again before the public, much I in the old form. On one side the charges of extortion and insolence are predicted of'the whole race of " drivers," and their vehicles are described as dirty, rickety, and so forth. On the other, the public are held to be unreason- able, and the police unjust. By the intervention of the latter, the pro- portions of the controversy are largely .increased, and we may safely say that it has attained to something like political importance. More- over, we have not seen the question fully or fairly stated; our gigantic contemporary, the prime antagonist of cabmen, contenting himself with a railing description of the species cabman, folloWed by a some- what illogical gemand for sixpence a mile; hus mitring up the perfectly separate questions as between the cabmen and the public and the cab- men and the police.
The two questions arc, nevertheless, distinct. The public have a right to sound cabs, civil drivers, and reasonable prices; and, we sup- pose, to get the last by Act of Parliament, if they can. But they have no right to allege ill behaviour as a reason for a reduction of charges; and to fly to the Commissioners of Police for an ukase whenever public grievances, as against cabmen, seem to be most pressing.
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