THE LOMBARD’S DOMAIN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 302, 15 September 1921, Page 6

THE LOMBARD’S DOMAIN

A CHAT WITH A PAWNBROKER ’NEATH THE THREE BALLS SIGN A “Dominion” reporter who set out yesterday afternoon to interview Wellington pawnbrokers on the slump and the effect it had on their businesses felt sure when he left the office of what he was going to find. The result was that there was no more surprised newspaper man in Wellingtoh at the close of the inquiries. The pawnbroker interviewed was sitting at a table in *a big, untidy room. On tho table were many papers, disarranged and sO. scattered around that one would imagine they were scraps of waste-paper waiting the advent of a basket; by it stood n gramophone on a wooden box, with three tin boxes of now needles Beside it. On the gramophone, posted rakishly across the was a gaily coloured ticket, with 23u,543, or some other number, printed in large blue letters. It was a pawn ticket. Behind the seated man were row upon row of coats, hotel and trousers; boots adorned several tiers of shelves; a trombone lay on the top of a bright new stove, and near the grate was a marble clock of the 1867 variety. Cornets; hats,, jewellery, fountain pens, watches, footballs, sewing machines, and a wonderful conglomeration of everything one could think ofl made up the rest of this fascinating office. One would have imagined the pawnbroker to be an old grey-haired, white-bearded man, with a skull cap. As a matter of fact, he was a typical AVellington business man. He turned to the reporter. • "AVell ?” he queried. “My assistant is in the front. Do you want a mortgage or what . . . ?” He smiled broadly when the newspaper man’s mission was explained' to him. When the reporter repeated the word "slump," and suggested that the tightness of money would have the effect oT increasing the pawnbroking business, the pawnbroker gave his contradiction briskly. “The slump is affecting >ns in exactly the same way as it is affecting everyone else,” he said. “The better the times, the better the pledging, and so on. We ate doing less business to-day than we were two years ago. Then, money was plentiful, and people used to like to speculate. Then it was that they used to pledge many articles in order to raise a few pounds, knowing that they wculd soon have it back again to iedeem their articles. But to-day, the position is quite different. Money is very scarce. Hoople feel that if thev,put articles in pawn that the resDOnsibility of redeeming them again will now be too great. Hence our pledge business has dropped off. not increased.” A Pair of Spectacles. As he epoke, an old man, down at heel, entered the front of the shop and commenced to haggle with tho assistant. Tho pawnbroker beckoned thg reporter behind the counter. The old man produced a spectacle case, from which he extracted a pair of well-worn, silver-1 rimmed* glasses. "Gimme two shillin’,” said; he. The pawnbroker looked at the man ■ and at tho glasses. "No use to me,” ho said. This was the signal for the Ancient to break into a torrent of vituperation. He was very fluent, and left waves of profanity behind’ him as he went out of the door. "That is a feature of our business/* said the pawnbroker. rf Men and women Mine in hero with most impossible articles sometimes. I must say that we can accept a pledge on most articles; but in cases like the old man you have just seen wo must be firm. But I was going to say that, so often as one refuses to receive an- article, the owner breaks into abuse. I’m too used to it to recent it,” he added. He showed the reporter the various articles of jewellery that had been pawned. There were gold watches, silver watches, nickel watches, gun-metal watches, diamond tiepins, gold nugget pins of the most weird designs, all ticketed with the same neatly printed slip. r There were field glasses, musical instruments, theodolites, golf sticks, punching balls, and an infinite variety of things. Do the pledgers come back fo redeem their articles? nsked the reporter. "Usually,” replied the pawnbroker. "You see, it is not worth their while to let them go. That reminds me of a customer T once had many years ago. He was the possessor of a splendid pair of Zeiss field-glasses—worth a good deal of money—and every Monday he used to bring these glasses in. and he would iereive All for them. He used to work it so that ho would always have the money for the middle of tho week. It was quite an addition to his small income—until he had to pay the interest. I must say that we have very few customers like"that! They usually are really in need of money when they como to see inc.”

The pawnbroker explained the meaning of the three golden halls, and.tnld of the guild of Lombards in Old London. Practically every city in England had its "Lombard” office, he said, kept usualIv byk a pawnbroker of tho old school. "AVe till say we will lend anything from 'ls. to .£16(10,’” he said. Then he showedl the reporter two documents, showing loans of .£2625 and .£1650 respectivet.v. "On land,” he remarked laconically. “I do a tat of that, and my clients usually play the game by me. Last month the money I lent totalled, over .£3OOO, including the second loan' I mentioned. So you see that pawnbroking is quite a- different thing to the popular conception. I can assure you I have not fleeced any sobbing woman who has come to see mo with the family diamonds in her hands: and I have not prised the diamonds out of the settings of the many rings—and bow many engagement rings!—that pass through my hands. Ido not charge extortionate rates of interest, for I will admit that most of my clients are poor people, and I know lawyers who charge much'-more. As you sec, Ido not wear a skull cap and wash my hands when I talk to you." The reporter was just going when a drunken man camo in with a "gold” ring. At least, it looked like gold from where Tiru Dominion man was standing. Looking sternly at the visitor and his ring, the pawnbroker produced the acid bottle, tho'most famous sine qua non of the Lombards. . One drop was enough, nnd' the inebriate wont out quicker than ho had entered. "Good strong stuff,” said the pawnbroker. Such is the domain of the pawnbroker. Ho is not os bad ns he is painted, and, it will bo readily admitted. he has a pretty strenuous time of it.