Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE CAB INDUSTRY. 331 One of the most pleasing discoveries which the special study of any trade reveals is the number of niches it provides for humble hangers-on. It is impossible to state how many hundred men in the metropolis, and how many thousands in the kingdom, live by loitering round cab-ranks, theatres, churches, shops, museums, and such places, ready to stand at a horse’s head should their services be required. Their reward is a copper or two. A halfpenny one way or the other indicates whether the driver has been prospering or otherwise. At most of the important cab- ranks there is generally one man employed to look after the horses, while the drivers stretch their limbs or snatch a meal in the interval of waiting for a fare. Mats and nose- bags seem trifles to the ordinary hansom passenger ; but their manufacture helps to fill many a homely larder. The making of nose- bags is one of the arts often acquired by the blind. The work demands no great skill, and if the profit is small it nevertheless means a great deal to the poor creatures whose earning power is so heavily handicapped by affliction. A curious phase of the trade exists only in Bloomsbury. There the stables, having been originally constructed for the convenience of private individuals, have living apartments overhead. These are frequently occupied by families unconnected with the cab trade, and the housewife occasionally receives a small rent for minding the cabmen’s “ tools.” This rent is hardly a fixed quantity, so much depends on the state of business. When the cabman is prospering he is no niggard. At one time omnibuses and trams were the nightmare of his life, and dark clays were prophesied. Then electric railways appeared on the scene to try his nerves. The advent of the motor-car has, however, introduced a serious cause for apprehension into the horizon of those interested in the hackney car industry. It is for neither individuals nor combinations to check revolutions in modes of transit ; but few will look forward with anything but regret to the day when London shall no more know its “ gondolas ” and its “ gondoliers.” P. F. William Ryan. ON THE RANK. Photo : Cassell & Co., Ltd.