Sessional_Paper_1947 — Page 12

Dis-services.

charitable function is adequately discharged by equipping a needy person with a hawker's licence, a habit of mind all too readily concurred in by the beneficiary. We fully realise that the issue of hawkers licences on charitable grounds may continue to be necessary for some considerable time to come, and that indeed it may continue to be necessary to reserve a certain number of licences for issue on charitable grounds; but we express the hope that in due course, when the proposed Social Welfare Department has come into being, it may not prove impossible to find some means, more satisfac- tory to the community as a whole, for equipping needy persons with the training and wherewithal to make an honest living. Even at present it might be a better plan to reserve a certain part of the hawkers spaces, the establishment of which we propose later in this report, for the relief of persons suffering from partial physical disability rather than to issue stall or itinerant licences at random.

(vii) We have considered carefully the argument, so frequently adduced in favour of hawkers, that their prices are lower than those charged by shopkeepers and that their existence is thus a boon to the poor man. Investigations however, carried out by Inspectors on the instructions of the Chairman of Urban Council and by officials of the Government Price Control office show to our satisfaction that, whilst cooked food sold by hawkers is in some instances slightly lower in price, it is generally inferior in quality to food sold by shops and eating houses, that in the case of many types of goods there is no difference in the prices of the hawkers and the shops, and that articles which are subject to price control and in keen demand but short supply, are much more expen- sive when obtained from hawkers. Price control is obviously very difficult to enforce in the case of such shifting entities as hawkers.

15. As against these advantages, some of which are rather nebulous the drawbacks attendant on any system of stationary hawking appear to us to be only too evident. In summary they might be tabulated as follows:

(i) Hawkers generally, and in particular stall holding hawkers, constitute a standing source of obstruction to traffic both wheeled and pedestrian. They represent a potential hind- rance to the Police when it becomes necessary quickly to clear a street in operations against robbers, and a source of grave trouble to the Fire Brigade, insofar as they increase incendiary risks and put obstacles in the way of expeditious fire-fighting. Many of the streets in the City of Victoria even as they are by reason of their narrowness and steepness present quite enough difficulties to through traffic without the added incumbrances of hawkers and their impedimenta. Shopkeepers also have legitimate grounds of complaint against hawkers, insofar as hawkers block up

the means of access to their shops and compete unfairly with their trade. (ii) Hawkers are a constant source of danger to the public health,

since,

(a) their stalls obstruct the work of scavenging the

streets;

(b) they litter the streets with refuse, which attracts

vermin and breeds flies; and

(c) they have neither enough space nor proper equip- ment for keeping food flyproof and sterilising eating utensils.