Every cab before being licensed must be inspected at the police station of
the district by the inspector of public carriages, and certified by him to
be in a fit condition for public use. The licence costs L2. The number of
persons which the cab is licensed to carry must be painted at the back on
the outside. It must carry a lighted lamp during the period between one
hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise. The cab must be under the
charge of a driver having a licence from the home secretary. A driver
before obtaining a licence, which costs five shillings per annum, must pass
an examination as to his ability to drive and as to his knowledge of the
topography of London.

General regulations with regard to fares and hiring may be made from time
to time by the home secretary under the London Cab and Stage Carriage Act
1907. The hiring is by distance or by time as the hirer may decide at the
beginning of the hiring; if not otherwise expressed the fare is paid
according to distance. If a driver is hired by distance he is not compelled
to drive more than six miles, and if hired by time he is not compelled to
drive for more than one hour. When a cab is hired in London by distance,
and discharged within a circle the radius of which is four miles (the
centre being taken at Charing Cross), the fare is one shilling for any
distance not exceeding two miles, and sixpence for every additional mile or
part of a mile. Outside the circle the fare for each mile, or part of a
mile, is one shilling. When a cab is hired by time, the fare (inside or
outside the circle) is two shillings and sixpence for the first hour, and
eightpence for every quarter of an hour afterwards. Extra payment has to be
made for luggage (twopence per piece outside), for extra passengers
(sixpence each for more than two), and for waiting (eightpence each
completed quarter of an hour). If a horse cab is fitted with a taximeter
(_vide infra_) the fare for a journey wholly _within_ or partly without and
partly within the four-mile radius, and not exceeding one mile or a period
of ten minutes, is sixpence. For each half mile or six minutes an
additional threepence is paid. If the journey is wholly _without_ the
four-mile radius the fare for the first mile is one shilling, and for each
additional quarter of a mile or period of three minutes, threepence is
paid. If the cab is one propelled by mechanical means the fare for a
journey not [v.04 p.0913] exceeding one mi