180 
Mcurket Ri gilts and Tolls, 
subjects referred to the Commission. It is impossible liere to deal 
exhaustively with all the evidence which was collected, for it occupies 
ten volumes ; but it may nevertheless be instructive to examine 
some of the more important conclusions which have been arrived at 
by the Commissioners. It is unfortunate that several of these con- 
clusions are not unanimous, so that there will in all probability be 
but little legislation on the subject, but for the present we may well 
content ourselves with the practical lessons which can be learnt 
from them. 
By far the most important conclusion is the first : 
That it is desirable to put an end to the system under which no person 
is allowed to hold a market within a certain distance of an ah-eady existing 
market, due regard being had to the interests of the present possessors of 
the monopoly rights. 
This goes to the root of our present system of markets, and is agreed 
to by seven only out of the twelve Commissioners, whilst it is rejected 
by live. It is said by the majority that the Market Monopoly 
obviously belongs to a state of society wholly different from that 
of the present day, because the restriction of a six-mile limit by 
which it is guarded is quite unsuited to the rapid means of transit 
and communication wliich now exist, and there is no longer the 
same desire that each locality should have its own commercial 
centre. 1 do not think, however, that this conclusion necessarily 
follows from the premisses. It may be conceded that the old mono- 
poly right cannot be justified, but it does not follow that all mono- 
poly rights are therefore undesirable. The question is one of a purely 
practical character. Can a successful public market be established 
and maintained without some sort of monopoly rights 1 Tliis is a 
matter upon which each person is certainly entitled to his own 
opinion, for, except in the United States, the experiment has not yet 
been tried. In the United States, as will be seen on p. 17 of the 
Report, a Market Monopoly is unknown, and the result has been 
twofold : first, public markets have fallen into disuse, and have 
given way before private enterprise ; secondly, there is no longer 
any control exercised by the State or Local Authority over markets, 
except for general purposes of health and police regulations. The 
power of establishing markets still exists, but it is not exercised by 
the municipal autliorities. I do not know whether the majority of 
the Commissioners have considered the possibility of such a result 
following from their conclusion, but I should suppose not, as the 
rest of their resolutions point to tiic abolition of private enterprise 
in markets, and to the establislnnent of greater control by Local 
Authorities. The answer given on this point by Mr. Little, who 
dissents from the opinion of the majority, is as follows (p. 124) : — 
The case of markets appears to be analogous to that of a gas or water 
undertaking. They exist for the convenience and advantage of the public ; 
they are frequently established and developed at considerable cost of capital, 
lor which no immediate return can bo expected, and no extension of the 
public marliet system cm bo looked for if the privilege which has Wtherto 
attached to markets be withdrawn. 
