FIVE HANSOMS STILL PLY FOR HIRE IN LONDON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18959, 4 January 1930, Page 9

FIVE HANSOMS STILL PLY FOR HIRE IN LONDON.

“ Hansom cabs will never die out.” So says Harry, who has been on the box of a hansom for nearly forty years. His birth certificate names him “Henry Summerfield,” but nobody calls him anvthing but Hansom Harry. There are five hansoms remaining in London, and these cannot be seen in the daytime. They ply for hire between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. (says an English paper). “ Lots of people prefer a hansom to a taxi every time,” said Harry, “ and complain that there are too few on the roads. Old ladies love them, and cld gentlemen, too. “ I don’t ride in motors if I can help it. They are only faster on a clear road—and there are not any clear roads in London. Men lolling in their limou sines look at me on my box with a smile, but it wears off in a traffic block! ” Harry is a familiar right in the West End at night. His red waistcoat, with its brave brass buttons, has been envied by Guardsmen for years. Harry says it is unique, and well it deserves to be. He says: “On boat race night there is always a demand for my old cab. The trouble is that the young people persist in riding on the roof—and this is not too safe for me! I shall have the same sort of thing on Armistice night, on Monday.” Harry is sixty-eight, and still going very strong. “ I shall go on driving till I get old,” he said; and he puffed out his chest as he strode away with twice the vigour of some taxi-men.