Of the 52,000 carriages exempt from taxation there was the following distribution:—
| Private pony-phaetons | 7,000 |
| Ditto pony-chaises | 4,500 |
| Chaise-carts | 39,000 |
| Conveyances for paupers and criminals | 1,500 |
| 52,000 |
The owners of four-wheeled private carriages were, it appears from the same returns, 20,739: of whom,
| 16,349 | persons kept | 1 | carriage. |
| 3,685 | „ | 2 | „ |
| 495 | „ | 3 | „ |
| 116 | „ | 4 | „ |
| 58 | „ | 5 | „ |
| 19 | „ | 6 | „ |
| 6 | „ | 7 | „ |
| 11 | „ | 8 | and upwards. |
Now the total number of persons returned as of independent means, at the time of taking the last census, was 500,000 and odd: of these very nearly 490,000 were twenty years of age and upwards. Hence it would appear that only 1 person in every 23 of those who are independent keep their carriage.
Such are the statistics of carriages, both public and private, of Great Britain. What proportion of the vehicles above enumerated belong to the metropolis I have no means of ascertaining with any accuracy.
The number of horses throughout the country is equally curious. In 1847 there were no less than 800,000 horses in Great Britain, which is in the proportion of five horses to each carriage, and of one horse to every six males of the entire population of twenty years of age and upwards. Of these 800,000 horses, upwards of 320,000 were charged with duty, while nearly 500,000 were exempt from it. Among the 320,000 horses charged with duty were comprised—
| Private riding and carriage-horses | 143,000 |
| Draught-horses used in trade | 147,000 |
| Ponies | 22,000 |
| Butchers’ horses | 4,750 |
| Job horses | 1,750 |
| Race-horses | 1,500 |
| 320,000 |
The horses not charged with duty were in round numbers as under:—
| Horses | used in husbandry | 330,500 |
| „ | belonging to small farmers | 61,000 |
| „ | belonging to poor clergymen | 1,250 |
| „ | belonging to poor traders | 10,500 |
| „ | belonging to volunteers | 13,000 |
| „ | used in untaxed carriages | 15,000 |
| „ | used by waggoners for their own riding | 2,000 |
| „ | used by bailiffs, shepherds, &c. | 1,060 |
| „ | used by masters, ditto | 3,700 |
| „ | used by market-gardeners | 2,000 |
| „ | in conveying paupers and criminals | 250 |
| „ | kept for sale | 7,000 |
| „ | kept for breeding | 4,500 |
| Colts not used | 16,000 | |
| Post-horses | 8,500 | |
| Stage-coach horses | 9,600 | |
| London hackney-coach horses | 3,600 | |
| 496,000 | ||