WHAT IS A NUISANCE?
THERE is considerable difficulty, it woad seem, iti distinguishing be- tween a nuisance and a convenience. We hear of the omnibus nui- sance, the hackney-coach nuisance, and now the "baked taties" nui- sance is complained of. At the Union Hall Office yesterday, about a dozen boys and men were brought up to answer for the enormity of selling baked potatoes in the streets. The Policeman who apprehended the criminals thus stated the case against them— The trade of selling baked potatoes about the streets of the Metropolis had increased to such an extent, and become such a nuisance, that the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of the Elephant and Castle had written to the Commissioners of Police on the subject. In consequence of these repeated complaints, the Superintendent had given instructions to take such of them into custody as obstructed the footway. In compliance with these directions, the ten deteudants had been taken into custody, each having a large tin machine containing baked potatoes.
It also appeased that the defendants related themselves iu a line across the top of the Rent Bond, and not only created an obstruction to tl:e passengers, but also by their cries of" Baked taties" kept up a continual uproar.
This complaint, it should be remembered, comes from the neighbour- hood of the Elephant and Castle, which is crowded with gin and buck: ering shops. No doubt, the baked potato trade interferes with the sales of these persons, and is a nuisance to them, but it is a great con- venience to the multitudes of poor creatures who have the sense to prefer a wholesome vegetable with a little salt and battler to gin and Irmdy. But then, they make such a noise with their cries ! This is excellent, as corning from people, whose ears are dinned eighteen hours out of the twenty-four with the perpetual rolling of omnibuses, coaches, and cabs; with all their attendant dissonances, mechanical and human !
The fact is, that the convenience of one class of people is a nui- sance commonly to the class just above them. The Union Ball Magistrate decided upon the whole fairly enough he told the pri- soners— " That as long as they did not obstruct the passengers, they would not be interfered with; but if they congregated in numbers iu any particular spot, they would render themselves liable to be taken into custody."
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