4d. 3900 per cent. ; weekly, 650 per cent.
6d.2600 433 9d. 1733 288 12d. 1300 216 In a petition presented to parliament in 1839, it is stated, that on a capital of 6d. thus employed (in weekly loans) pawnbrokers make in twelve months 2s. 2d. ; on 5s. they gain 10s. 4d. : on 10s. they clear 22s. 3±d. ; and on 208. lent in weekly loans of sixpence, they more than double their capital in twenty seven weeks ; and should the goods pawned remain in their bands for the term of twelve months (which seldom occurs), they then derive from 20 to 100 per cent. The ' Loan Fund Societies,' which are protected by an Act of the Legislature, and advance small sums under 151. at 5 per cent., are of no ad vantage to the habitual dependants upon the pawnbroker.
The Pawnbrokers' Gazette' is a stamped weekly publication, which tain; advertisements of sales, and other information of use to the trade, amongst whom it exclusively circulates.
The act for the regulation of pawn brokers in Ireland is the 28 George III. c. 43 (Irish statute). It requires pawn brokers to take out licences and to give securities; appoints the marshal of the city of Dublin corporation registrar of licences; directs returns to be made to him monthly, upon oath, of sums lent; and allows the registrar a fee of one shilling on each return. The stamp duty on licences amounted to 27751. in 1842.
In 1837 Mr. Barrington founded the Limerick Mont de Pike, as a means of providing funds for the public charities of that city. He erected buildings at his own expense, and sent competent persons to Paris to make themselves acquainted with the mode of conducting the Mont de Piete in that capital. A capital of 4000/. was raised on debentures, bearing interest at 6 per cent.; and the establish ment was opened on the 13th of March, 1837, under the control of a committee. In the course of eight months 13,00el. had been lent on 70,000 pledges at a rate of interest amounting to one farthing per month for a shilling, no charge being made for duplicates. Six-sevenths of the amount advanced was in sums under 5s. Four months after the establishment was opened, the value of articles redeemed on Saturdays averaged about 1401., the in terest on which amounted to 34. 3s. t d., while the pawnbroker's charge would have been 91. Towards the close of the year 1839 Mr. Barrington published a
short pamphlet showing the further pro gress of the institution. The capital had been increased to 15,3501., and a clear profit of 17361. had been realised since March, 1837. Small sums are lent to poor persons of known respectability of character on their personal security. This plan is attended with valuable ef fects upon the conduct and character of the poorer classes.
In Appendix E, ' Poor Inquiry ',Ire land); there is an account of the Ahas cragh Loan Society, which shows that where individuals can be found to super intend the details, the ruinous plan of applying to pawnbrokers may be partially 'bviated. This Society had borrowed 7201., partly from the county Galway trustees, which sum had been disposed among 400 borrowers, and no loss had occurred during the two years in which the Society had been in operation, chiefly in consequence of the attention of the Rev. H. Hunt, the treasurer. In the evidence taken at an examination by the Commissioners of Inquiry in the county Leitrim (p. 93) it was stated that there I were no pawnbrokers in the barony ; but a class of men called usurers are to be met with in every direction, "and they bind both borrowers and sureties by so lemn oaths to punctual repayment of the principal, and of the interest, which is exorbitant in proportion to the smallness of the sum lent." The witness, who was a magistrate, further stated, that a case had recently come before Lord Clements and himself, in which a man had bound himself to pay 12s. a year iu quarterly instalments for the use of 15s. principal. Such facts show the expediency of afford ing every encouragement to establish ments conducted under the immediate control of the law. In some instances in Ireland pawnbrokers keep spirit-shops under the same roof or in an adjoining house. The Report just quoted states that people were beginning to lose their reluctance to wear the forfeited property of their neighbours ; and most of the poor persons examined stated that a few years ago they were ashamed to go to the pawnbrokers, but this feeling appeared then to have been much weakened. The scarcity of capital in Ireland occasions many individuals to have recourse to pawnbrokers for purposes unknown in England, such as obtaining the means of purchasing a pig or buying seed.