The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-03-06 00:00:00

LORD SHAFTESBURY AND
PAWNBROKERS.

Mr. Richard Attenborough, who earties on the
largest pawnbroking business in London having
several establishments in the metropolis—has sent the
following letter to The Times for publication
. .

In your journal of this day Led shoftesbury is reported,
when speaking to Lord Kimberley's Bill to have said the
following a ords
"As for spoons, forks, anti jewelry, they are not taken
no readily to the smelting-pot, bat tel S ell-known places,
where is a pipe, which your loralti, E may have seen -1 hips
none may have seen It of necessity 'a lituelo—in a pawn-
broker's shim. I have lad a descrildion of the precess from
practitioners. The thief taps, the pipe is lifted up, and in
the course of a minute a ha, tt conies out covered with a
glove, takes up the Jew i iry, mid else, out the money for it.
lost, my lords, I ant Berry ti say that the reception of stolen
goods is carried on not by th it low class only. Irt gret to
say that there are tradesetcn of high standing in this town
w let follow tile practice.'
Giving every credit to his lordship in his desire to serve
and promote tile best interests of orcusotey, I can sere had
his lordship made more searchieg inquiries and more
thoroughly mastered tie facts of the case, such sentences
• would never have escaped his lips.
'11.5 most important businesses Itt the pawnl milking trade
employ from x 5,000 to 5t50,000, or even .glOO,OOO, and my
asset tion is that, on far from the proprietors of these e-tab-
lishments being systematic receivers of stolen goods, not one
of them, to the bestof thy belie, hut ever knowittply, by him-
self or by any of his assastants, reeeiveil is single article that
wan stolen; and I hope I shall be elite In a few sentences to
convince reasonable 111011 that this is not a groundless
assertion. The pawitbroking business is conducted by Act of
Parliament. To the most minute particular, we are told
what to do in earls transaction, sod the penalties are severe
for the slightest disregard of the Act. Every transaction
has to be entered carol slip and minutely, and must be
capable of being referred toter three years afterwards. The
police are ever on the alert, and are well pleased whet', they
con end a particle of evidence prejuilici il to the trade.
What are the facts? A professional thief vroot,l na sons.
think if rushing into the arms of a policeman as taking his
plunder to nee of the houses of' high standleg" referred to
by Lord Shaftesbury, whi re, it not detected at twee, the
thief has simply laid up uelliellee that still some day assist
in his conviction.
Again, a guilty receiver must transact his business by
stealth, buy the Omeler at a fraction of its value, and sell
to others of the sante s.anip as himself Now, th s trailesmen
in question employ stimuli, of assistants in w hom they are
compelled to place inplicit conlidencei, who certainly have
notices than an average badness ability, and are not without
an eye to their own interests. Evidently Lord Shaftesbury,
from his speech, has made himsrli master of criminal pro-
ceedings. I would, however, remind his lordship that it
is very easy in this life to be severe. Weald his lordship
like to trust the receipt of his rents anti the management of
his banking account to men in whom he mad no conii lent*?
I imagine not, and petit would lie a much less absurd thing
to do than fore tradesman sif " high standing" to pat him-
self at the mercy of his emploO.
I cannot think his lordship, in his official earn:ly as a
legislator, would have made tile sweeping assertiou he has
unless he had very strong evidence of its truth, and I debope,
as a matter of justice, his lordship will give' myself and
• brother tradesmen an opportunity of showing to him and
the community at large that, at testa on this occasion lie
has been misled. For my own part I can only say in all
transactions in which I have been engaged I court the fullest
r To the above, Lord Shaftesbury replies
_ _

'
It would give me great pain to learn that I had spoken
unjustly am disrespectfully of a class of tradesmen the ma-
jority of whom I doubt not, as stated by Mr. Att,nborough
in your impression of this morning, carry .m their business
uprizlitly, and according to the law of She land.
But, in troth, I made no reference to pawnimokers, except
for the purpose of showing that the receivers of stolen ar-
ticles had adopted a similar form of machinery (to be seen
tin some of the inferior shops', with a view to the rapid trans-
fer of goois iron one floor to another.
I proceeded then,—
"I am sorry to say that the reception of stolen goods is
carried on not by that law class only. I regret to soy that
there are tradesmen of high standing in this town who follow
the practice."
Not pawnbrokers only, but general dealers, who do not
receive goods in pledge, but pay for them in money.
Ihe whole context of my statement will prove that such
was any assertion, and I cannot retract it.