The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-02 00:00:00

The Characters of Hawkers.

The new provision which Mr. Lowe has consented
to make with reference to the granting of hawkers'
licenses will be generally esteemed to be a change
in the right direction. When Mr. Lowe first men-
tioned the matter in the Budget Lord Kin-
naird, it may be remembered, strongly
protested against the relief of foot hawkers from
the annual tax of two pounds a piece. To many
who know the value of the Cheap Jack and the
pedlar, in country districts Lord Kinnaird's disap-
proval was looked upon as somewhst, nruel and un-
justifiable. At the same time there were many others
who felt there could be no reason for denying to the
honest tradesman a reasonable protection against the
entrance into the trade of a set of fellows without
character or principle, who could not bear the test
of trustworthiness imposed in the forty-shilling
licence. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
has now designed a happy compromise,
and removes all possible complaint of hardship
by the proposal to grant, on a nominal payment, a
certificate which will guarantee the respectability of
the vendors. Under this new arrangement the honest
hawker will have even a better security than before
for his respectability, since the payment of the licence
fee will be no longer the primary object sought, but
the worthiness of the payer.
Public Prosecutors.

The amendments in the Public Prosecutors. Bill,
just published in its corrected form, refer chiefly to
the salary attached to the office of prosecutor.
The Act provides that on and after the Ist of June
1871 one of the principal Secretaries of State
shall have it in his power to appoint any attorney or
solicitor public prosecutor for any town or district, at
an emolument of £2OO a year, with a further
allowance in respect of an office and a
clerk or clerks. The prosecutor will, how-
ever, be allowed to accept costs in the same
manner as ordinary prosecutors as part of his remu-
neration, but it shall be lawful for the Secretaries of
State at any time to offer him an increased salary
in lieu of any such monies. No solicitor will be
entitled, under the Act, to be elected for a longer
term than five years; but his appointment may, at
the end of that period, be renewed at the will of the
Secretaries of State.
The Laws of Horse Racing.

According to the terms of Mr. Hughes' Bill now
before Parliament, no horse or mare under the age of
two years will be in future allowed to take part in any
matches or races for prizes whatever, and no horse or
mare under four years shall be deemed capable of
winning a Queen's plate. The penalties for an in-
fringement of either of these regulations are severe,
as any person who shall receive, directly or in-
directly, any money as a deposit on any bet, or
make any arrangement whatever, on the speculation
of a race being allowed to take place, which would
involve a breach of the above defined laws, will be
compelled to pay a fine of not less than £3O with
costs. It is also ordered that any official, who
takes the entry of any horse or mare, under
two years of age, for a race or
match, shall be liable to a penalty of not less than
£5O, The bill proposes that all money received in
fines under the Act shall be paid to the overseers of
the parish in which the offence shall have been com-
mitted to be ultimately applied in aid of the rates.
Cambridge Local Examinational
On distributing the prizes and certificates obtained
at the last Cambridge Local Examination, the Right
Hon. S. H. Walpole proposed to take stock of
the examinations, which had been first held in
1858, and extended to girls in 1865. In the first
year he said there were only eight centres, at which
370 boys presented themselves ; last year there were
32 centres and 2,077 candidates, 1,562 of whom were
boys. He considered this increase highly gratifying
and encouraging. He doubted whether there was
any characteristic of the present age more noble than
the anxious desire to extend education. In former
days large foundations had been made for
the education of the higher classes, and
more recently great attention had been
paid to providing elementary education, aided
by the State, for the poor, but the education of the
middle classes had been much neglected. He
alluded, with satisfaction, to the fact that attention
had lately been turned in this direction, and to the
liberal movements of the Universities of Cambridge
and London in granting certificates to women and
girls.
Prison Labour.

In a discussion on prison labour at the Social
Science Rooms, the chairman (Sir Walter Crofton)
observed, in alluding to the New Prisons' Act,
that it was not compulsory on magistrates to enforce
the use of the treadwheel in local gaols ; but
he considered that remunerative labour in prisons
should be preceded by work merely penal, such as
the crank. He remarked that the American self-
supporting prisons had not found. their