The Select Committee of the Commons on Pawnbroking have 'reported
that the time has not yet arrived for free-trade in pledges, and have advised that up to £2 interest should still be fixed by .statute at a halfpenny a month for every 2a. or fraction of 2s. Above £2 the trade is to be free. Under 10a., moreover, the article pawned, if not redeemed within six months, is to be abso- lately the property of the pawnbroker, but above that figure he must restore any surplus over debt and interest. The interest is -very high, the lowest minimum being 25 per cent., and we 'are by no means certain that if all pawnbroking laws were abolished the trade would not pass into much better hands. "We always underrate the shrewdness of the poor. Would it not be possible to try a compromise, and leave the trade alone, provided the pawnbroker published his rates of charge clearly in his shop-window ? If he departed from them as against the cus- tomer, he could be punished summarily, like a cabman.
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