Lord Kinnaird writes to Mr. Lowe in the Times of
Thursday a long tirade against his proposal to take the duty off hawkers' licences, on the ground that hawkers, or their employers, do a great deal of mischief by tempting the poor to take, partly on credit, showy goods which they cannot afford, and then availing themselves of the power which the debt gives them to extort money from their parents, or other relatives. We cannot understand at all Lord Kinnaird's position. We should have thought that the more the trade of hawkers was thrown open to competition, the more likely it would be that rascals would be elbowed out of the field by more respectable and honest men. Does Lord Kinnaird suppose that the tendency to a monopoly which a licence duty imposes is any guarantee for the character of those who take it out ? This same letter was apparently written expressly to prove that it is not so, and yet he appeals to Mr. Lowe to leave the present system alone. Lord Kiunaird should read a little political economy, or better still, make a few inquiries as to the practical advantages of a monopoly to fraudulent persons, and he would soon find out that substituting two petty tradesmen in a country aide for one, generally means not doubling, but probably halving the number of frauds. And would it not be better to consider a little before writing to the Times?
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