ITINERANT TRADING

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1930, Page 9

ITINERANT TRADING

POSITION IN NEW PLYMOUTH. .

DRAPERS VOICE A PROTEST.

Itinerant traders and the license fees payable by them were subjects of keen discussion at a meeting of the New Plymouth Borough Council last night, when attention was drawn by the chief inspector to the trouble ho had in locating some of the traders and securing payment of the fees. . x The discussion arose as the result of a letter from the Taranaki Drapers and Clothiers’ Association stating that at a recent meeting of the association the position as regards itinerant traders in New Plymouth had been discussed. A general opinion was expressed that the license fee of £5 was too low. It was understood, however, that at the last municipal, conference a remit-was passed recommending that the license fee be £25. Could the council inform the association whether there had been any further move in the direction of increasing the present license fees ? The committee, it was added, was grateful to the borough inspector for his work in collecting license fees. It mii’ht, however, be possible to assist hi 'min this work, if the council could supply the association with the list of hawkers and itinerant traders’ licenses issued. If any new trader whose name was not on the list commenced trading in the town, the inspector’s office could then be immediately advised so that the position might be investigated. In this way additional vigilance would be brought to bear on the operations of itinerant traders. , , 4 The chief inspector (Mr. R. Day) stated that the question of the amount of the fee to be paid was a debatable one. A recent court case, at Taihape he thought, made it doubtful whether the present arrangement could be interfered -with. The drapers could help in the matter very materially if they would advise the inspectors’ office of every dealer they knew of who was visiting the town. Some dealers operated, from hotels and advertised by private circular, so that it was very difficult to catch them all. The Mayor said it was a difficult matter to raise the license fees,- but h<j thought the • council should co-operate with°the association for the protection of the local retailers. He thought that all the ratepayers, in the interests of their own town, should co-operate and make sure the inspectors’ office was informed of the presence of itinerant traders. _ . A councillor: Some of the ratepayers will not object to the itinerant traders if they can get goods more cheaply from them than in the shops. The Mayor: Quite a,lot of people object very strongly to these traders, some of whom become very objectionable > they are not able to effect sales. It is not fair that our womenfolk should be subjected to the treatment some of them get from these salesmen. The council resolved to injZrm the association that it was sympathetic towards the latter and would co-operate in whatever way possible to ensure that visiting traders did not escape paying their fees.