The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-16 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

An athletic young fellow, named Jason Rowe, was
charged before Mr. Arnold with having committed a
wanton and violent assault upon a young woman
named Ellen Lebeau.

The complainant stated that she accompanied a
married sister of: hers to the house of a friend in the
Wenlock-road, City-road, on the preceding evening,
where they met the prisoner, who, in the course of
conversation, used such insulting language towards
her sister that they immediately left the place. They
had only proceeded a few yards, however, when the
prisoner, who had apparently been lying in wait for
them, rushed out of an adjoining gateway, and, with-
out the slightest provocation, struck her sister a violent
blow in the face, and on witness interposing for her
protection, he knocked her down with a tremendous
blow upon the side of the head, which he fol-
lowed up with repeated blows about the face and head,
as she lay upon the ground, until the arrival of a
policeman, who had been attracted by her screams to
the spot.—(The complainant directed the magistrate's
attention to her face, which appeared to be swollen to
more than twice its natural size, and extensively dis-
coloured.)
The sister of the complainant corroborated her evi-
dence.

In answer to the charge the prisoner said that he
was first attacked by the complainant and her sister,
who slapped his face.

Mr. AitNoLD said that it was a most cowardly out-
rage, and he should order the prisoner to pay a pe-
nalty of 51., or be committed for two months to the
House of Correction ; and, in addition to that, he
must find bail fur his peaceable behaviour for the
succeeding three months.

SUNDAY TRADING IN THE

METROPOLIS.

Report of the Commons' Select Committee, (just
printed and delivered) appointed to inquire into the
prevalence of Sunday Trading in the Metropolis, &c.
Your Committee have examined many witnesses, of
a great variety of opinions, who nearly all agree that
Sunday trading is carried on to a great extent in the
metropolis, and that in many parts it has been on the
increase for several years past. Evidence has also
been given which goes to prove that it is not confined
to articles of a perishable nature, or of necessity, but
extends to many things that may be purchased on
any other day of the week ; as boots and shoes, hats,
clothes, drapery, toys, furniture, crockery, ironmon-
gery, and grocery, &c.
The districts in which Sunday trading is most ex-
tensively carried on are principally inhabited by the
poor, and it is chiefly the poor who resort to the shops
open on a Sunday
. Yet, your Committee find, however, that shops are
also kept open for the convenience of the rich, owing
to which a considerable number of men and boys are
employed in carrying out various articles during the
greater part of the Sunday.
A considerable difference exists in different pa-
rishes in the mode of carrying on trade on Sunday.
In some an appearance of decency is observed, the
shutters of the shops, being wholly, or at least par-
tially closed ; whereas, in others the most open mar-
keting prevails, goods being exposed to sale not only
in the shops and warehouses, but also on the pave-
ment and roads, which are partially obstructed during
a part of the day.

Considerable -difference of opinion has existed
amongst the witnesses as to the cause of the continued
existence and increase of Sunday trading; one party
maintaining that it is unavoidable, in consequence of
-the labourer being paid at a very late hour on Satur-
dv night, or even in some instances on Sunday
morning, while the other declares that though this
may be the case in some instances, the more frequent
cause is the fact that the workman, knowing that he
can purchase his provisions upon the Sunday morning
neglects the Saturday evening; his wife, consequently,
does not receive the money devoted to domestic pur-
•poses till the Sunday morning, and is obliged to
make her purchases upon that day.
Your Committee cannot but remark, that whichever
of the assigned causes be the true one, injustice is done
to one or other of the two classes engaged in Sunday
trading. If the labourer does not receive his wages
in proper time on the Saturday, to allow him Sunday
as a day of rest or recreation, he is manifestly injured
of that portion of time which it has been the design
of laws both human and divine to secure to him. If,
on the other hand, he receives his wages in sufficient
time to enable him to make his purchases on the Sa-
turday evening, he is committing an injustice on the
shopkeeper, by causing him to sacrifice his day of rest,
by delaying his purchases to the Sunday.
Your Committee have no hesitation in expressing
their conviction of the injurious effects of Sunday-,
trading. They have reason to believe that more than_
5,000 tradesmen in the metropolis, with probably three
times that number of journeymen and boys, are almost
entirely deprived of the benefits derivable from one
day of rest out of the seven days of the week.
It is in evidence before your Committee, that in
some places from 10 to 20 per cent. more is charged
on Sunday than on any other day, and where this is
not done the article sold is generally of an inferior
quality.
Your Committee find that the majority of the
traders who carry on Sunday trading earnestlyde-
sire to discontinue the practice, but all their attempts
to do so by voluntary agreement have proved abortive
in consequence of a minority of their fellow-trades-
men refusing to close their shops. On the other
hand, those traders who observe the law themselves
feel aggrieved by the illegal practice of their com-
petitors who carry on their business on Sunday.
It is not possible, under the present law, to give
that protection to the tradesmen observing it which
they require.
The fine at present imposed, 55., can only be levied
for one offence ; and the courts of law have held that
those things can only appear in evidence as showed
forth for sale which the witness can prove to have
been actually sold. By this decision the keeping open
of a shop for the purpose of sale is no offence against
the statute. The magistrates have also refused to
grant warrants except as against the identical article
actually sold; and, consequently, when this has been
the case, .attempts which have been made to enforce
the law have been rendered abortive.
Your Committee would have been glad to have
found reason to expect that the defects in the effi-
ciency of the present law were likely to be supplied
by moral means, and an improved feeling amongst
the parties engaged in the practice of Sunday trading.
But hitherto, though your Committee are ready to
believe public opinion amongst the body, is more
sensibly alive to the injuriousness of the system than
formerly, the spirit of competition is too strong to
render it effective. Notwithstanding the delivery of
le .cures on the subject, the distribution of tracts, and
the attempts of the traders themselves to procure sig-
natures to bind one another by voluntary agreement,
the system continues to spread, and threatens an in-
crease rather than a diminution of the evil.

Though your Committee do not consider that the
penalties of the law can be properly applied to the
strict and complete observance of the Sunday, yet
they feel called upon to recommend the introducti
of a measure for effectually prohibiting public mar-
keting, and the open exposure and sale of goods on
Sundays ; the penalties to be enacted not being appli-
cable to the sale of necessary articles of food for a cer-

tain period of the day, previous to the customary hours-,
for the c lebratio-. of Divine worship.
Your Committee are encouraged to believe that a
Bill, founded upon the above principles, would be
beneficial to all the parties interested, and most useful
to the community at large. They are the more in-
duced to think that this would be the case, by the
(universally admitted) fact—by all the witnesses who
were examined upon the point, that the closing of the
public-houses till one o'clock in the afternoon had
been attended with the best results. The wish of your
Committee is—to liberate (not to fetter) and to give
to the different classes engaged in Sunday trading a
day of rest, without interfering with the necessary
comforts of the other classes of society.

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