§ MR. DYCE NICOLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it has been brought to his Notice that 12,500 Pedlars' Sixpenny Certificates have been issued in Scotland from 1st January to 15th March without reference to the description of goods hawked or the number of the family accompanying the Pedlar; and that applications for such Certificates are daily increasing; and, whether he will make an early inquiry into the operation of the Pedlars Act of 1870, with a view to its amendment?
MR. BRUCEreplied that he had not received any Return of the precise number of pedlars to whom Pedlars' Sixpenny Certificates had been issued in Scotland, but he was aware they were very numerous; and he had received a Report from the inspectors of police in Scotland in reference to this subject. That Report, and other information he had received, showed the necessity of amending the Act of last Session.