THE COLONIAL COSTER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 210, 24 May 1918, Page 6

THE COLONIAL COSTER

HIS STANDING IN THE COMMUNITY

(By "Sylvius.")

Not many people,, perhaps, have noticed it, hut Wellington is developing its own special brand of colonial coster. He may not be the thing apart that ha is in the Bast End of London, but ho is a type of man who is co-related to the London coster. He sells fruit and vegetables—but mostly fruit—and only appears to como out into the open when the fruit is cheap. It is just a little* J difficult to place the new type, as he has | his individuality, as all fruit vendors I should have, if it is only to lend distinction to their wares. Some of tho Wellington fruit and vegetable hawkers ara purely New Zealanders, who have never been outside the three mile limit, _ but most of them are of Australian origin, who iluive probably rubbed shoulders with coster emigrants from the "Old Dart," and have borrowed patches oC their patter. They are certainly a novelty to the average New Zealandor, who is not in the habit of being persuaded to buy his fruit and vegetables through the medium of flowery phrases as highlycoloured as the labels on American truifc boxes. Lack of competition in the open has led to a take-it-oasy, wait-till-thei--' eomc-in method of vending goods Where there are large centres of population, the competition i? often of cutthroat keenuess, and shopmen and vendors of the street have to ply their art vigorously to make each day show <i profit. In Sydney town-only 1200 miles away—the shop-gazing visitor cannot walk down George Streot AVest or Oxford Street without being bothered hr shop-salesmen, who come out on the pavement and "spuik" about theirwares in the most pushful manner, even, going tho length of taking hold of ona by tho arm and luring him into tlio snop to persuado him into purchasingsomething irrespective of whetner tho article is needed or not. That sort of trading was quite common in tho meaner streets of Sydney and Melbourne befora the war. Whether it still prevails I kuow not, but it is just a touch of it that we have had during the autumn, now fading into winter. As a fruit season in "Wellington Ilia autumn has been fairly good—an especially good one from tho consumers' point of view as far as apples have been concerned. Apples cannot last very long, even in cold store, and as there was noprospect uf shipping them to England or anywhere else, ihp market has been flooded not onlv wiNf a large percentago of this season's fruit, but"*a good many apples out of cold store have been marketed. Tho- big freight rates havo put an end t'o the export trada for the time being, so apples havo been cheap, and, as usual,. the men to sell them have appeared from nowhere in particular, and their cries have 'added new notes to the life of our streets. Before the war silent, meek-eyed Hindus predominated in Wellington as street.fruit vendors. Standing humbly by their barrows, they looked ever so piteously at the passing crowd, and did business because they sold cheaper than the shops—even the Chineso shops—could afford to do. . . . Theso sons of the sun appear to have disappeared. Perhaps they have gone back to the Punjab, having "felt the East a-calling"; perhaps they found the climate of Wellington trving, or liked that of Northern Franca better. At any rate, their places havo been taken by breezy, deep-throated white men, loaded with quaint aphorisms and singularly picturesque descriptions of the fruit they are purveying. Bright and breezy, free and easy, they moor their barrows to the kerb in appointed places and enlarge on tho wonders of their wares, and I really believe they have been the means of making 'inanv people lovers of apples who ordinarily did not include fruit in the article's; comprised in their daily diet.

All the same, the fruit hawkers are a source of great tribulation to the City Council. Four years ago—when the Hin* du came down out of the East in numbers—the City Couucil was much perturbed at tlio number of applications for licenses as street hawkers they put in. Yet these men were British subjects, and could scarcely be debarred from getting an honest living in the way proposed. Naturally, the shopkeeper (who paid high rents and rates) objected to the rcntless, rateless Hindu barrow-men plying their, business outside the city fruit. shops. Then the by-law in existence was as follows :— No licensed hawker or pedlar shall, unless he shall have a permit as aforesaid, stand or remain stationary in any street or public place, save and except for such reasonable time as is required for the transaction of his business with any customer. This by-law was beautiful in theory, but impractical to a degree. It meant that a hawker could stand still whilst ho was selling, but must move oil when not actually serving a customer. Such a by-law could not prevent a hawked parading up and down before a city fruit shop, and stopping every time ho effected a sale. Nor could it prevent a confederate from stopping the barrow' right in front of a fruit shop and buying fruit that would be passed back into the barrow in a case or bag later on. In fact, the by-law did not protect the shopkeeper at all, and that being so it wad abolished in 1914, and it was decided that there should he no hawking of fruit in the main streets. ( But during the autumn the conditions'wero laid down that the hawker be allowed to take up a fixed jKjsition—as far as possible removed from fruit shops. This has been done by way of experiment, but tho Chief Inspector (Mr. .Tamos Doylo) has authority to shift tho stands or to rofuso a permit to any stand-holder should he misconduct himself, prove dishonest or abusive, or in any way step beyond the mark of decent behaviour as ?. tradesman or a citizon.