Known as ‘gharries’ or hackneys, these small horse-drawn carriages dominated the streets of the business quarter of town. The gharry drivers were usually Malays or Indians. Rules guiding the use of gharries such as "no driver shall be required to drive one pony a greater distance than ten miles or remain engaged for more than nine hours at a time" are available. One of the repositories where tourists could hire a gharry was from Abrams' Horse Repository on Orchard Road which provided 250 animals. Before his death in 1911, Abrams had been an influential figure in the local racing scene.
