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Story: Street life

Hawkers sidelined

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Hawkers sidelined

In the early 1900s opposition to fruit hawkers increased, and in 1908 Wellington City Council reacted by restricting them to back streets. This cartoon exploits widespread anti-Chinese sentiment by suggesting fruit-shop owners (many of whom were Chinese) would use the measure to lift prices.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: New Zealand Free Lance, 8 February 1908, p. 12

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Street life – Street life declines, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/cartoon/20681/hawkers-sidelined (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 4 March 2010.