THE COUNCIL AND THE CABMAN.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 58, 11 March 1881, Page 3

THE COUNCIL AND THE CABMAN.

At the meeting of the City Council last night, the following recommendation of the Public Works Committee was read :— " That the stuttLof £3 be paid to Mr. Thomas Carter to recoup him the amount of fine and costs for which he had been mulcted in the Resident Magistrate's Court for breach of the Hackney Carriage Regulations." The clause was at once put to the vote, and carried by 5 votes to 4, the division list being as under : — Ayes— The Mayor, Councillors Greenfield, Thompson, Fisher, and Stafford. Noes— Councillors Miller, Logan, Allen, and Danks. After the motion had been carried, a long and irregular discussion took place. Councillor Allen crave notice that he would move at the next meeting that the resolution be rescinded. He did not think they had any authority to pay away money for such a purpose. The Mayor Bald he was not going into the legality of the thing at all, because there were a great many payments made by the Council the legality of whioh might be contested. The facts in this case were, that the officers of the Council had interfered in a dispute between two rival cabmen, and had put one of them to grievous hardship. The committee finding that to be the case, recommended that the man be recouped a portion of the loss he had been put to. Councillor LoGAtf said it was be ° who originally proposed the payment of the £3. Afterwards, he and others thought they would be casting a reflection on the officers of the Counoil by passing such a resolution, and then an attempt was made to raise the amount among themselves, but it fell through. The reason they changed the position they originally took up was that they did not want to cast any reflection on their servants, and not on account of anything that appeared in the newspaper, for he (Councillor Logan) took no notice of that. Although it might be quite right that the man should be slightly pnnished for what he did, yet they did not wish to see him get into difficulties through the exorbitant manner in which the costs mounted up. In this case tho unfortunate defendant had altogether to pay .£5 17s 6d. Councillor Miller urged that the Resident Magistrate having decided the case after hearing both sides, the Council, who only heard one Bide, had no right to sit in judgment on that gentleman's decision. Tho Mayor said that the decision of the Resident Magistrate was not before the committee at all, and they did not sit in judgment on it. All that was before them was that an unfortunate cabman had been compelled to pay a large sum of money through the officers of the Council having taken.a particular course. Tho Corporation by-laws were for the protection, and not for the oppression, of the oitizens. He found that .£l4 in small fines had been paid through the Treasury during the month of January for breaches of the by-laws. That probably represented some £20 or £30 paid to the Resident Magistrate's Court, to say nothing of incidental expenses, which would come very hard upon poor people. If their officers had the power — and he did not know how they got it — to summon people it ought to be exercised with great discrimination and toleration. Councillor Alle# urged that they were putting their, officers in a very unenviable position, and 'they had better do away with the by-laws altogether if they were not to be enforced Councillor FlSHlßii supported the payment of the'wß3 in a rambling and somewhat abusive speech, remarking that if they were ixT follow .the course advocated by Councillor Allen, the 1 Council would be turned into a bear garden. Councillor Allen retorted that there was no man who w6uld make a better bearleader than the Counoillor who had just Bpoken. He took up scavengers, he took up cabmen, ' and he took up a number of other " poor unfortunate men " with grievances. He (Councillor Allen) did not know whether he was their paid advocate or not. In conclusion, he withdrew his notice of motion. Counoillor Stafford was sorry the Counoil had got into this position. It was a very serioua thing when the Counoil came to review the decisions of a Resident Magistrate, but, at the same time, he thought the bylaws should not be made oppressive, and that the •fficera had acted injudiciously in' not letting the cabmen fight, ont the dispute themselves. The discussion then dropped.