I have heard it insinuated before now, that City functionaries of all
sorts are prone to take too good care of themselves, whenever they
meet to consider the wants of the poor. I may perhaps be allowed to
say, that when we have a feast, we pay for it; and that not one
farthing of any collection made in the City for the poor was ever, to
my knowledge, appropriated to any other purpose. As a respectable man,
I, for one, would never countenance any intromission of that kind.




OCCASIONAL NOTES.


LONDON CAB REFORM.

If John Bull were not, with all his grumbling, one of the most patient
animals in existence, he could never have endured so long the cabs
which he has to employ for the conveyance of his person through the
streets of his metropolis. They are very poorly furnished and nasty,
far below similar conveyances in any continental city with which we
are acquainted. Greater fault still is to be found with the drivers, a
large proportion of whom are so prone to overreach, that it is hardly
possible to settle for their fares without a squabble. Our experience
leads us to say, that at an average a stranger pays 30 per cent. above
the proper sum, besides having his temper in almost every instance
ruffled to some extent by the sense of having no adequate protection
from the rudeness of this class of men. For a lady, there seems to be
no chance of escape but by the alternative of some enormous
overcharge. Altogether, this department of public economy in London is