FRUIT HAWKING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 150, 21 December 1907, Page 3

FRUIT HAWKING.

-«3» r"GROSSLY UXFAIR COMPETITION." £U7 ri.U£GliAI-K.--PIiES.J. ASSOCIATION.! AUCKLAND, 20th December. At a meeting of the City Council a communication was received - from five. Queen-street fruiterers, drawing attention to what they described as "the great injustice under which they laboured llft-ougli the grossly unfair competition of a large number of the hawkers who had been licensed by the council to sell fruit plying their business up and down the main street of the city, and practically making it a shop." All the hawkeis were called upon to pay for this privilege was 6d per week. The*** writers complained that they wcie subject to rents ranging from £3 to £9 a week and lates of 10s to 15s, and to stringent regulations. They claimed the protection of the council, asking it to put a stop to hawking, or charge a reasonable rental. Each hawker netted £>2 a day, and could afford to pay 10s per dny. Unless some relief were afforded, the shopkeeper would be wiped out altogether. The traffic inspector, reporting on the communication, said that street-hawk-ing .was allowed in every loVn. The general public patronised hawking most extensively, and would object, to the barrows being done away with. Mr. Entrican thought the petitioners had a Jeal grievance. He moved that the matter be referred to the Finance and Legal Committee. Dr. Stopfoid considered the street hawkers provided a very necessary want in supplying cheap fruit. The motion, on being put, was carried.