Hawkers provided cheap meals right at the customer's doorstep. Each bowl of noodles cost about 30 cents in the 1970s. While the colonial authorities recognized that these hawkers provided an indispensable service in feeding immigrant labourers, they also resented these hawkers' unregulated use of public space. From the late 19th century, the authorities rolled out more regulations to register and licence hawkers. The licence shown above is an example of an itinerant hawker licence.
