THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. AUCKLAND, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1868.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1419, 4 June 1868, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO.

AUCKLAND, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 1868.

" Give ever} - man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment, This above all,—To thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."

It will be recollected by many that during the last session of the General Assembly we drew the attention of our representatives to the necessity of legislating-in • the matter of pawnbroking, a business which, at one time carried on in this city with closed doors, is now openly practised by some half score individuals or more. Soon after the publication of the remarks alluded to, a question was asked the Government by one of our Auckland members, Mr. Dignan, and the reply, if we recollect rightly, was, that it was too late in that session, but that the Government would be prepared to bring down a bill in the next session for regulating the business of pawnbrokers in New Zealand. The matter is comparatively a small one compared with the great questions which occupy the miuds of our legislators and the members of the Government in these times, and it is one which may very possibly escape their attention until again too late for legislation in the coming session. It is therefore all the more necessary that we should again refer to the matter. And first, then, as to the advisability or I otherwise of legalising the business of pawnI broking in New Zealaed. For a long time the authorities set their face against it as an evil, but, as all know, it was carried on in spite of them, and so carried on as reallv to become an evil. The very attempt made by the authorities to forbid the granting of loans on goods offered in pledge caused the business to be carried on at disadvantage to the borrower. To put a stop to pawn-brok-ing a Government must commence by stopping the necessities of the poor, and auy • government which will do this" may be excused for being arbitrary in forbidding the issue of such loans ; but so long as the necessities of the poor exist so long will the poor have recourse to raising money on their :

good's, and men will step .in to do an f illicit trade, the poor borrower paying in extortionate interest the lender's insurance on the risk he runs by breaking the law. Pawn broking is in fact only an evil when unr<J cognised by law. Why debar the poor man who -needs to raise money, fora . temporary pressure from pledging -his furniture or superfluous clothing, and allow his wealthier •but-needy-neighbour-to pledge house or land an his emergency ? _ >Why should the latter* be allowed to raise money by loan upon his property, and so save himself from altogether parting with it, and the former be compelled to sell out his property beyond redemption. The truth is the ,pawn-shop ig often a friend in need to the poor man, but then it is the pawn-shop legalised and retm. lated by legislative enactment, as at home As these places have been conducted in this Colony their effect has been the reverse. While, then, we recommend that the business of pawnbroking shall be permitted to be carried on we would recommend that a bill be introduced into the Assembly similar to the Pawnbroking Act in force in the mother country. This is all that is needed to secure the public interests, and we trust that some of our city members will take the matter in charge and at an early day in the session take an opportunity of calling the attention of the Government to it.

In the first place, all 'persons engaged in this business should be duly licensed by the local authorities. In London and "Westminster the annual cost of a license is £15, and elsewhere in the "United Kingdom £7 10s. We do not see why in this colony it should not be fixed on the same scale as the publican's licenses, namely £4-0 per annum in the cities, and at a lower rate elsewhere. This alone would make a sensible addition either to the municipal rates or Provincial revenue. But it is in the regulating the rate of interest, the redemption of the goods pledged, and such matters that the active interference of the legislature is so much needed. The rate of

interest charged is usurious in the extreme. In one establishment in this city where n poor person had pledged three large blankets for 10s., three shillings and fourpence per month was charged as interest; in another establishment five shillings per month wag charged upon 30s. advance, and in all cases the interest of the first month is deducted from the loan, and very good care ;is taken not to advance more than one-third the value of the article pledged. Moreover, if the party pledging goods is able to withdraw them at any time during the month lie is charged the full month's interest. jVow we I maintain that sucli a system of extortion ' practised on the poor is a disgrace to the community—a state of things which to be remedied should only require to be inown. This is grinding the poor man between the upper and the nether millstone with, a vengeance, and yet it is a system which is daily being carried on in our midst. Then, again, with regard to the forfeiture of goods pledged. If the interest for the second or any subsequent month be not paid on the first day of that month the goods are at once forfeited, are beyond redemption except at such price of course as the usurer may choose to ask. At home not only is a time for redemption of the goods greatly extended, but even beyond that time, and when actually forfeited and sold, the borrower's interests are cared for.

Everything relating to the conduct of. this business is regulated by law at home. Interest, there, is limited to the rate of one half-penny per month for every half-crown lent up to £2, and for every sum exceeding £10, at the rate of threepence in the pound by the calendar month. The pawnbroker must enter in a book a description of the pawned article, the amount of the money lent upon it, the date, the name of the person pawning, the street and number of the house in which he lives; and each person pawning must be furnished with a duplicate of such ticket, for which nothing is paid if the sum be under os, and above thatr and under 10s one halfpenny, and from 10s to 20s one penny. The goods are not deemed forfeited until the end of twelve calendar months from the date of their being pledged, but on notice from persons having goods in pledge three months further grace is allowed, such notice having been given to the pawnbroker before tlie expiration of the first twelve months. Goods on which above 10s and not! exceeding £10 have been lent shall be sold by public auction and not otherwise, and notice of such sale must be given in a newspaper at least three days before the sale, upon pain of forfeiting to the party who pledged the goods a Bum of not more than five nor less than two pounds. But further, in order to guard carefully against malpractices, the law provides that all pictures, prints, books, musical instruments, statues, carvings, ivory, cameos, philosophical instruments, china, and several other things, are to be sold by themselves, and without other goods, four times a year only, viz., on the first Monday of January, April, July, and October in each year, and an account has to be kept by the pawnbroker of tho sale of all goods pledged for more than ten shillings, and if they sell for more than the sum lent upon them, and the full interest due, the pawnbroker must pay the surplus, on demand, to ths person who pledged them.

ifow .with such alterations as regards tlie rate of interest, whicli might fairly be increased in the colonies, the regulations contained in the English Act are exactly what arc wanted here, and we trust that another session of the Assembly will not be allowed to pass by without action being taken in the matter. The Act has been found by long experience to work well at home, and our New Zealand legislators m;iy very well take it almost as it stands for a jno-'t'l.