I move the Second Reading of the Street Trading Bill, 1925. This is a Bill not for the abolition of what is known as street trading, but for its better regulation and control. For some time back—a year or two—I have had complaints from two sources with regard to abuses arising from the practice of street trading in Dublin. The police complain that the matter was an abuse in that the existing legislation was inadequate to deal with it, and merchants and shopkeepers in certain streets in the city complain that the paths outside their premises were blocked by street traders in such a way that people could not conveniently secure access to their premises. Looking into that, we find that the position is pretty much as represented, both by the business people of the city and by the police; that an abuse undoubtedly exists, and no existing legislation is sufficient to meet the situation fully.
The Dublin Police Act of 1842 and the Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1851 make it an offence to obstruct the public in their use of a highway, but actual obstruction by some one or more individuals must be proved before a conviction can be obtained, and in practice a conviction under one or other of those Acts is a matter of considerable difficulty. The police find it difficult to deal with cases of obstruction by street traders. The ordinary individual will naturally put up with a considerable amount of inconvenience in passing through a street or along a path before he will put himself in the position practically of a plaintiff or State witness in a prosecution. Street traders have for the last few years been establishing themselves in many streets throughout the city where trading of that kind was not previously carried on, with the result that where proceedings have been instituted against them for obstruction, the argument has been advanced that a conviction would have the effect of depriving the traders of their means of livelihood. District Justices in Dublin have been impressed with that argument, and have indicated that in their opinion this practice of street trading, which is of comparatively recent growth, cannot be satisfactorily dealt with under the Acts of 1842 or 1851. We were convinced, therefore, that further legislation was necessary—legislation which, while permitting street trading and thus preserving the means of livelihood for the persons engaged therein, would regulate and control traders, so that there would be no undue interference with traffic on the highway or with those engaged in carrying on business in shops and premises throughout the city. That is the object of the present Bill.
The class of persons affected by the Bill may be roughly described as those who carry on their business otherwise than in shops or places of business, and there are really three distinct classes of traders of that kind who have been subject to legislative control under legislation of the past. There is an old Act of 1871 called the Pedlars Act. A pedlar was defined as a person who, without a beast of burden, travels from town to town or to other men's houses carrying or exposing for sale any goods or merchandise. A pedlar had to obtain a yearly certificate in respect of which a fee of 5/- was payable to the police yearly. Then there was an Act of 1888—the Hawkers Act—and a hawker. I find, is a person who travels with a beast of burden and goes from place to place selling goods or merchandise, or who travels by any means of locomotion to any place in which he does not usually reside or carry on business, and who sells, or exposes for sale any goods or merchandise. The hawker had to obtain a yearly certificate in respect of which an Excise fee of £2 was payable to the Revenue Commissioners. So you have there a distinction between a pedlar, who went without a beast of burden, and a hawker who had his beast of burden. It was probably the first act of a prosperous pedlar to become a hawker by securing a beast of burden.
There are other classes of traders, such as persons selling vegetables or coal, who were exempted from the obtaining of a hawker's certificate. The street trader, over whom it is sought to have control under this Bill, will not, as a general rule, come within the definition of either a pedlar or a hawker. Street traders reside in the city of Dublin and, for the most part, sell their wares on the street, either on a pitch taken up there or by moving from street to street, carrying their wares in their hands or in small receptacles. Where in any case, owing to the nature of the trading carried on by any street trader, he may be deemed to fall within the definition of either a hawker or pedlar, the obtaining of a street trader's certificate under this Bill will relieve him of the necessity of obtaining a certificate under either the Pedlars Act or the Hawkers Act of 1888.
The object of the Bill, therefore, is not to abolish street trading, but control and regulate it, and provision is made by which any person desirous of engaging in street trading must first obtain an annual certificate from the Commissioner of the Gárda Síochána, for which a fee of 5/- will be payable. The fee is charged simply in consideration of the amount of work involved in the registration and control of street traders. That police certificate will entitle a person who is content with carrying his wares through the street in his hands, or in a small receptacle, to carry on his business. Street traders who have obtained that certificate from the Commissioner of Police and who are desirous of setting up a stall in the street for the purpose of their trade must obtain a further annual stall trader's licence from the Corporation, for which an additional fee of 5/- will be payable. That 5/- fee will to some extent, recoup the Corporation for the additional expense incurred by them in registering and controlling stall traders and removing from the streets the refuse left by them around their stalls. Power is reserved to the Corporation to make by-laws to prohibit stall trading, or any particular class of stall trading, in any specified street in the city, and generally regulating the business of stall trading with the view to ensuring the utmost cleanliness where articles of food are sold on stalls, and to prevent an undue accumulation of refuse as a result of that trading. Power is given to the Minister for Justice to make regulations prescribing the form of street traders' certificates and licences, the limits of the sizes of the receptacles to be carried by the street traders moving through the streets, the form of register to be kept, and the prohibition of stall trading in any particular street in the city. That power will be exercised only with a view to removing any undue interference with traffic through the streets.
Certain offences are created by the Bill and penalties prescribed for breaches of its provisions. Power is given to Justices of the District Court to revoke a street trader's licence if, in any case, they should think fit to do so. Certain necessary powers of seizure and sale are vested in the members of the Gárda Síochána.
This Bill is introduced primarily to deal with the situation which, undoubtedly, has arisen here in the city of Dublin, but it is thought wise to leave it open to any Corporation or Council of any city or town in the Saorstát which has a population exceeding 5,000, and which thinks in the interests of the people living in or having recourse to such city or town that regulations of this kind are required, to adopt the Bill, so that it would be open to Cork, Waterford, Wexford, or any other city in the Saorstát, which considers that the Bill would be an advantage, to do so.
