Stage-Carriages Act, 1861

This 1861 Act licenses and regulates "stage-carriages" — horse-drawn (or other animal-drawn) vehicles used to carry passengers for hire, essentially the horse-drawn public transport of its era. Section 1 defines a stage-carriage broadly as any carriage drawn by one or more horses ordinarily used to carry paying passengers, regardless of its shape or construction. Section 2 requires every such carriage to be licensed by a Magistrate before it can operate, and Section 3 lets the Magistrate refuse a licence if the carriage is judged unserviceable, unsafe, or unfit for public use.

Section 4 sets the licence fee at five rupees (or a lower amount the Provincial Government may fix) and makes each licence valid for one year. Section 5 requires the licence number and details to be painted in English on a visible part of the carriage, and Sections 6 through 9 create specific penalties: a fine of up to one hundred rupees for failing to paint the required particulars, similar fines (rising to five hundred rupees on repeat offences) for operating an unlicensed carriage or for overloading a carriage with more passengers or luggage than the licence allows, and fines of up to one hundred rupees for cruelly beating, overdriving or otherwise mistreating the animals drawing the carriage.

Section 10 lets a Magistrate cancel a licence if the carriage or its animals or harness become unsafe. Sections 11 and 12 set out enforcement mechanics — police may seize an unmarked carriage near a Magistrate's office, and misconduct by drivers (such as reckless or drunk driving endangering passengers) is separately punishable, again with fines up to one hundred rupees. Section 13 makes the proprietor liable for a driver's or owner's offences if the actual offender cannot be found, unless the proprietor proves he had no knowledge of or benefit from the offence. Sections 16 through 18 set out how penalties are recovered — through distress and sale of the offender's property — and specify imprisonment terms (up to two, four, or six months depending on the unpaid amount) if there isn't enough property to seize.

This is a very old colonial-era statute (1861), heavily amended over the decades (the extract shows repeated "Subs. by", "Omitted by" and other amendment footnotes going back to 1898 and continuing into the 20th century), and Section 22 notes the Act does not apply where carriages are already regulated by municipal or cantonment law. Given its age, the specific fee and penalty amounts stated here should be checked against current official sources, as they may no longer reflect present-day rupee values or have been superseded by later regulation of motorised public transport.