A PROPOSAL, Humbly offered to the Consideration of the Honourable the Commons of England in Parliament assembled, for raising a farther Supply towards the Erecting and Maintenance of the intended College or Hospital at Greenwich, for Ancient and Maimed Mariners and Seamen; Or such other Good and Public Use as the Honourable House shall think fit.  
THAT whereas by the Constitution and Establishment of, or some Grant to Christ's Hospital in London, the Governors thereof have Power to let Leases, or dispose of Carooms, or Licenses and Dispensations for keeping and working for Hire, Cars and Carts, etc. within the said City and the Liberties thereof, As an Inheritance or Perpetuity belonging to the said Hospital; and no Person, who is not so qualified, can keep, or work for hire, any Car or Cart within the said City or Liberties: By virtue whereof, the Number of such Cars and Carts is settled at about 430, which is found a sufficient and convenient Number; Whereby many great Inconveniences are avoided: There being sufficient for all necessary Occasions, and yet not such an exorbitant Number as to clog up the Streets and obstruct the Passages, or cause the Owners to depend upon a Livelihood thereby, to the ruin of themselves and Families for want of a full Employ: (As was the Case of many Hackney Coachmen, before their Number was limited by Act of Parliament:) But on the contrary these Carooms, though they cost the Owners 100 l. a piece at the least, upon taking the Lease, besides Office-Fees, and some yearly Rent or Acknowledgement to the Hospital, yet are they esteemed as valuable Chattels to be transferred, and as ready Money if offered to sale, (according to such Term and Interest as the Proprietor has therein) as any other Leases whatsoever; and many Hundreds of Families are well supported thereby: And the Caroom (which is a Badge of Brass given by the Hospital, and born by the Car-man upon the String of his Car) denoting the Number of such Car, etc. gives them such a Reputation that they are readily entrusted with the Carriage of any Goods; there being a present Remedy against them in Case of any Misdemeanour, in such their Employment.  
AND the City of Westminster and Liberties thereof, and Borough of Southwark, (without the Liberty of the City of London) and the several Out-Parishes in Middlesex and Surry, bordering upon the Liberties of the said Cities, and lying within the Extent of the weekly Bills of Mortality, being of late become very Populous, and likely still to Augment; And the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom living or residing therein, (especially during the Sessions of Parliament;) whose Coaches are many times not only obstructed, but even endamaged and broken, by over-numerous and disorderly Carmen and Carters, with their Cars and Carts, and that without any means of Reparation or Satisfaction from them; and the rather for that such Carmen and Carters, as live out of the Liberty of the said City of London, carry no Badge to denote their Place of abode, or where they may be found, and are without all Government and Restraint, as to their Number or otherwise; Whereby likewise Cheats and Frauds may the more easily be committed by them of the Goods with the Carriage whereof they are entrusted, And especially in the Case of Fires: And the ill-practice of some brings a Diseredit to the rest, to the great Hindrance of such there Employment and Livelihood.  
AND therefore for preventing the several Inconveniences before mentioned, and raising somewhat of a Supply for so excellent a Use as aforesaid, It is humbly proposed, That the Number of such Cars and Carts to reside and work for Hire, out of the Liberty of the said City of London, and within the Extent of the weekly Bills of Mortality, be restrained to 200, (or such other Number as shall be thought requisite) and Licenses granted of them from time to time for 21 Years, each to pay a Fine of 50 l. upon taking their first Licence, and such yearly Rent to the Hospital, during the Term, as shall be thought reasonable; And after the Expiration of the Term, to pay such farther Fine, upon taking any new Licence, as shall be agreed upon with the Commissioners or trusties to be appointed for the Management thereof, without any Abatement of the old Rent; And such Commissioners or trusties to be impower'd by Act of Parliament to grant such Licenses, and make By-Laws for the well ordering and governing the Persons so to be Licenced, and to cause the same to be observed.  
AND forasmuch as divers Brewers, Innkeepers, Woodmongers, Cole-mongers, and Masters and Owners of Wharss, living within the said City and Liberties of Westminster, Borough of Southwark, and Out-Parishes aforesaid, keep and daily use divers Drays, Carts, and Carriages for carrying away their Dung, and for carrying out their Beer, Ale, Coals, Wood, Timber, Stones, Lime, and other their Goods and Merchandizes (according to their respective Trades and Employments) by whom, or their Servants, (for want of some good Orders and Rules of direction concerning them, and a ready way to detect and punish the Offenders) many Abuses and Disorders are frequently done and committed with such their Drays, Carts and Carriages, in the Streets and Passages where they pass, To the great Annoyance of divers of the Peers of England, and honourable Members of Parliament, when going upon the weighty Affairs of the Nation, And to the frequent Abuse, and even hazard of the Lives of many other of his Majesty's good Subjects, in passing about their Lawful Occasions: THAT therefore, though it may not seem reasonable to lay any Mulct upon the Persons aforesaid, for using such their Drays, etc. about their own Lawful Concerns and Employments, Yet it may be requisite (for preventing Disorders and Abuses) to subject them likewise to the Orders and Government of the said Commissioners or trusties so to be Constituted or Appointed as aforesaid; And to oblige the Owners or Occupiers of such Drays, Carts and Carriages, to carry a Badge or Ticket upon some apparent Place of every such Dray, Cart or Carriage, expressing the Name and Place of Abode of the Owner or Oecupier thereof; And to procure the same to be entered in the Office to be kept by the said Commissioners or trusties for the Purposes aforesaid, And to be renewed so often as such Dray, Cart or Carriage, shall come to any new Owner or Occupier, or that such Owner or Occupier shall have any new Habitation or Place of abode; They paying only a small Fee for the same. And the Fines and Forefeitures arising by Offences and Misdemeanours will be an Augmentation of the proposed Revenue, or help to defray the necessary Charge of the Management thereof.  By P. C. and D. C.  

A PROPOSAL For Regulating Cars and Carts, etc.