FORGOTTEN CENTENARY

Northern Advocate, 7 June 1933, Page 9

FORGOTTEN CENTENARY

THE LAST HANSOM LAB. In the preparations of thousands of people for the celebration of Melbourne's hundredth birthday one centenary will be forgotten because there are only four survivors to celebatc it (says the “Argus”). The founding of Melbourne took place one year after the birth of the hansom cab in. 1834; but while Melbourne has grown swiftly hansom cabs have almost vanished. There is but one left in the city, and there are only three in the suburbs. The driver of the city cab began business M2 years ago in the days when fashionable people took drives in the evening, and when prosperous business men had cabs calling for them to take them to otlice in the morning and to take, them home at night. In the heyday of hansom cabs lie drove Lord Hopetonn through the streets of Melbourne. lie was particularly fortunate in taking up the business during the visit of the present King as Dnk 1 of York, when money was spent freely. Before that he had had his introduction to transport problems when he pushed a wheelbarrow with his swag in the early West Australian gold davs.

Fail (lie glories have almost, vanished. “People think the cabs are oldfashioned,” the driver said. “Many ride ini hem for novelty. English visitors are good customers. They like the sound of the horses’ hoofs on the road; they tell me it reminds them of London.” The driver finds difficulty in getting suitable horses. “You need horses with a bit of blood,” he said, “•but they must he trained to stand quiet. Still, I never want a car, T drove a car for live years and then came back to the cab.”

In spite of their old-fashioned elegance, reminiscent of the days of top hats and flowing cloaks, the hansom cabs do not derive their names from any physical beauty. They are named after their inventor, JosepJi Hansom, an English architect. After his invention in KSM4 he sold his rights for £IO,OOO, none of which he received. Yet in the last decade of the century the cabs were earning £12,000 a day in London. As he polishes the shining wood work of his cab and grooms his patient horse, which is also a veteran, having .been in the business for Id years, the Collins Street cabman dreams of these days. “Many old drivers would like to be on the job again,” lie remarked. “But a new cab costs nearly £2OO, and the old ones have gone to pieces.”' So. he expects a quiet and lonely centenary.