Manchester City Council Bill [Lords](By Order)

My hon. Friend misunderstands the law. At the moment, someone with a lawful pedlars certificate can sell balloons wherever he wishes. If my hon. Friend has his way and the Bournemouth Borough Council Bill becomes law, it will no longer be possible for someone with a certificate to sell balloons on the street in Bournemouth unless he also has a street trading licence for which he may have to pay a substantial amount of money. The issue of pedlars is romantic and evokes entrepreneurs of a previous age. W. B. Rands, the originator of The Boy's Own Paper, had a little ditty about them:"““I wish I lived in a caravan,""With a horse to drive, like the pedlar man!""Where he comes from nobody knows,""Or where he goes to, but on he goes!””" That is most people's view of the pedlar—someone who travels from town to town selling his wares and passing the time of day with his customers. The essence of the law is that he seeks out his customers rather than expecting them to come to him, in the same way as we go out canvassing during elections. We go to meet our constituents rather than expecting them to come to us at our surgeries, which is the form the rest of the time.