The “labourers” immediately connected with the trade in omnibuses are
the proprietors, drivers, conductors, and time-keepers. Those less
immediately but still in connexion with the trade are the “odd men” and
the horsekeepers.
The earlier history of omnibus proprietors presents but a series of
struggles and ruinous lawsuits, one proprietor with another, until
many were ruined; and then several opposed companies or individuals
coalesced or agreed; and these proprietaries now present a united,
and, I believe, a prosperous body. They possess in reality a monopoly
in omnibus conveyance; but I am assured it would not be easy under
any other plan to serve the public better. All the proprietors of
omnibuses may be said to be in union, as they act systematically
and by arrangement, one proprietary with another. Their profits are,
of course, apportioned, like those of other joint-stock companies,
according to the number of shares held by individual members. On each
route one member of the proprietary is appointed (“directed”) by
his co-proprietors. The directory may be classed as the “executive
department” of the body. The director can displace a driver on a
week’s notice: but by some directors, who pride themselves on dealing
summarily, it seems that the week’s notice is now and then dispensed
with. The conductor he can displace at a day’s notice. The “odd men”
sometimes supply the places of the officials so discharged until a
meeting of the proprietary, held monthly for the most part, when new
officers are appointed; there being always an abundance of applicants,
who send or carry in testimonials of their fitness from persons known
to the proprietors, or known to reside on the line of the route.
The director may indeed appoint either driver or conductor at his
discretion, if he see good reason to do so. The driver, however, is
generally appointed and paid by the proprietor, while the conductor is
more particularly the servant of the association. The proprietaries
have so far a monopoly of the road, that they allow no new omnibuses
to be started upon it. If a speculator should be bold enough to start
new conveyances, the pre-existing proprietaries put a greater number
of conveyances on the route, so that none are well filled; and one of
the old proprietaries’ vehicles immediately precedes the omnibus of the
speculator, and another immediately follows it; and thus three vehicles
are on the ground, which may yield only customers for one: hence, as
the whole number on the route has been largely increased, not one
omnibus is well filled, and the speculator must in all probability be
ruined, while the associated proprietors suffer but a temporary loss.
So well is this now understood, that no one seems to think of embarking
his money in the omnibus trade unless he “buys his times,” that is to
say, unless he arranges by purchase; and a “new man” will often pay
400_l._ or 500_l._ for his “times,” to have the privilege of running
his vehicles on a given route, and at given periods; in other words,
for the privilege of becoming a recognised proprietor.
The proprietors pay their servants fairly, as a general rule; while,
as a universal rule, they rigidly exact sobriety, punctuality, and
cleanliness. Their great difficulty, all of them concur in stating,
is to ensure honesty. Every proprietor insists upon the excessive
difficulty of trusting men with uncounted money, if the men feel
there is no efficient check to ensure to their employers a knowledge
of the exact amount of their daily receipts. Several plans have been
resorted to in order to obtain the desired check. Mr. Shillibeer’s
I have already given. One plan now in practice is to engage a
well-dressed woman, sometimes accompanied by a child, and she travels
by the omnibus; and immediately on leaving it, fills up a paper for
the proprietor, showing the number of insides and outs, of short
and long fares. This method, however, does not ensure a thorough
accuracy. It is difficult for a woman, who must take such a place
in the vehicle as she can get, to ascertain the precise number of
outsides and their respective fares. So difficult, that I am assured
such a person has returned a _smaller_ number than was actually
conveyed. One gentleman who was formerly an omnibus proprietor, told
me he employed a “ladylike,” and, as he believed, trusty woman, as a
“check;” but by some means the conductors found out the calling of the
“ladylike” woman, treated her, and she made very favourable returns
for the conductors. Another lady was observed by a conductor, who
bears an excellent character, and who mentioned the circumstance to
me, to carry a small bag, from which, whenever a passenger got out,
she drew, not very deftly it would seem, a bean, and placed it in one
glove, as ladies carry their sixpences for the fare, or a pea, and
placed it in the other. This process, the conductor felt assured, was
“a check;” that the beans indicated the “long uns,” and the peas the
“short uns:” so, when the unhappy woman desired to be put down at the
bottom of Cheapside on a wintry evening, he contrived to land her in
the very thickest of the mud, handing her out with great politeness.
I may here observe, before I enter upon the subject, that the men who
have maintained a character for integrity regard the checks with great
bitterness, as they naturally feel more annoyed at being suspected
than men who may be dishonestly inclined. Another conductor once found
a memorandum-book in his omnibus, in which were regularly entered the
“longs” and “shorts.”
One proprietor told me he had once employed religious men as
conductors; “but,” said he, “they grew into thieves. A Methodist parson
engaged one of his sons to me--it’s a good while ago--and was quite
indignant that I ever made any question about the young man’s honesty,
as he was strictly and religiously brought up; but he turned out one
of the worst of the whole batch of them.” One check resorted to, as
a conductor informed me, was found out by them. A lady entered the
omnibus carrying a brown-paper parcel, loosely tied, and making a tear
on the edge of the paper for every “short” passenger, and a deeper
tear for every “long.” This difficulty in finding a check where an
indefinite amount of money passes through a man’s hands--and I am by
no means disposed to undervalue the difficulty--has led to a summary
course of procedure, not unattended by serious evils. It appears that
men are now discharged suddenly, at a moment’s notice, and with no
reason assigned. If a reason be demanded, the answer is, “You are not
wanted any longer.” Probably, the discharge is on account of the man’s
honesty being suspected. But whether the suspicion be well founded
or unfounded, the consequences are equally serious to the individual
discharged; for it is a rule observed by the proprietors not to employ
any man discharged from another line. He will not be employed, I am
assured, if he can produce a good character; and even if the “’bus he
worked” had been discontinued as no longer required on that route. New
men, who are considered unconnected with all versed in omnibus tricks,
are appointed; and this course, it was intimated to me very strongly,
was agreeable to the proprietors for two reasons--as widely extending
their patronage, and as always placing at their command a large body
of unemployed men, whose services can at any time be called into
requisition at reduced wages, should “slop-drivers” be desirable. It is
next to impossible, I was further assured, for a man discharged from an
omnibus to obtain other employ. If the director goes so far as to admit
that he has nothing to allege against the man’s character, he will yet
give no reason for his discharge; and an inquirer naturally imputes the
withholding of a reason to the mercy of the director.