NEW ZEALAND PAWNBROKING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 520, 5 April 1872, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND PAWNBROKING.

—o— Cross,) There are five pawnbrokers in Auckland, six in Duneilin, three in Chiistehureh, and the same number in Wellington. There are none nowo n the West Coast in the Middle Island, from Westport north to Okarita south. All the pawnbrokers in New Zealand may be counted uiide- twenty. Referring more particularly to Auckland, we are told that two pawnbrokers would be able to do the business of the five now engaged in the occupation. Three out of every four persons who take articles to pawnbrokers, to ob'ain small advances of money on, are women. Invariably these wemen are neither drunken nor abandoned, but they are cursed with drunken husbands. They pawn dresses and underclothing to obtain food and necessaries for the young families. It is seldom men take articles to pawn. They compel their wives or children to do it for them. From a known female drunkard, or an abandoned woman, pawndrokers seldom or never receive pledges, because, should it be proved that they have Veen stolen, the law insists that they shall be restored to the owner. The pledges of charwomen and washerwomen for this reason, 'are never received ; but then this class, knowing what the rule is, send other persons. The most profitable customers some of the pawnbrokers have are fast young men—rollicking rams—and won t-go-home - till - morning gentlemen. They pawn their watches, scarf pins, ring?, and psrsonal bijouterie for a night's sprej wdiich they redeem with their next week's wages. Pawnbrokers in Auckland say that there is very much real distress among the respectable pcor— rmeng pcoj le who would almost die sooner than apply to the Relieving Officer for aid. A man's waistcoat, or woman's petticoat, or boots, or some article of domestic use, is frequently pledged for a meal for the children. Poverty, the Pawnbrokers say, is not by any means, always the means of drunkenness. It frequently arisc3 from sickness, and from want of employment. There are men,'such as mechanics watchmakers, draughtsmen, printers, clerks, and the like, who are physically- unable to labor. Pawnbrokers say, if rich men want to know_ the difference between absolute poverty from unavoidable causes, and poverty the result of vice, they should start in their Hll3 of business for three months, when they would learn sopjething they have littlo dreamed of iu their past experience.