SECOND-HAND DEALERS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11535, 18 March 1903, Page 4

SECOND-HAND DEALERS.

'IO THE EDITOB OF THE PRESS. Sir, —A gentleman called upon me yester-1 day announcing himself as a City Council | Inspector. He infomed me that he understood I had not taken out a license or paid the fee as a' general or second-hand dealer under an Act passed last year. Quite correct, I have not! Now, sir, lam a dealer in curios and antiquities. Doubtless a Roman coin, an Egyptian mummy, a Maori tiki or mere, are second-hand goods, but surely no Act Las ever been passed to make me apply for a. license to trade, in such goods, to keep books open for the inspection of tbe poSice at any time, and to blazon fort, on nw window that 1 am a general dealer, whioh are, I believe, the essential point* in tim, to me, wondrous enactment. If lamto be subject to these indignities, will not the bicvole dealer, who trades in second-hand bikes, the saddler who buys and exchanges secondhand harness, _ie corn deaf!er who buy. and sells se_>nd-_a_d sacks, the jeweller who trades in old gold and silver, the museum, and., in fact, nearly every tradesman and institution come under the provisioas of this iniquitous, ridiculous, and unworkable Act? I cannot, sir, at all understand a Liberal Government endeavouring to block a man making a living in any honest capacity. If it compels nic to shut up shop and walk the etreeta in search of employment, the

powers that be will quickly tell me- I am making m yeeJf liable under the Vagrancy Surely we have too many laws, and, may 1 be allowed the expression, too many law-makers, for a country which rightly rejoice* in its advancement and (?) freedom from oppressive legislation.—Yours, etc., 80 Manchester sU-eet, March sth, 1903.