THIS SATURDAY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 67, Issue 55, 14 December 1946, Page 6

THIS SATURDAY

FORMER THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY NEW ROLE FOR TOWNSMAN Not so very long ago Ashburton used to be as busy on a Saturday morning as on Friday afternoon. Farming people, with only a small amount of business to transact, used to make Saturday morning their day in town and for many housewives of the town, it was the time to visit the baker, butcher and pastrycook to secure the necessary provision for the" weekend. But former things have passed away and Ashburton is now a veritable ghost town on a Saturday morning. A young man who was coming to work in Ashburton recently asked his predecessor what the town was like. The reply he received was: “Oh. Except on Tuesday and Friday when the farmers come to town, you could fire a cannon along East Street without injuring, a soul.” That of course was a gross exaggeration and certainly most unkind to our civic pride, but it comes closer to fact on Saturday and Sunday than at any other time. Those persons seen in the streets of Ashburton on a Saturday morning now are principally pleasure bent, but there are still a few who must carry ou the essential services: and for whom a “nice free Saturday’ is still a myth. These may get some consolation from the fact that their comrades in the country still have to milk their cows on both Saturday and Sunday, pending the development of that marvel of human science, the 40-hour cow, which, due to some remarkable oversight, Mr Semple has omitted from his 10-year jii plan.

Paradise for Townsmen In New Zealand these days there has been created a veritable Utopia for the townsman. When he leaves the office or factory on Friday evening he lias two full days of freedom before him. On Saturday morning he may not deign to rise until the sun is high in the sky, and then mother may have to shift him round the kitchen as she performs lier unending dpties, while he picks the winner at so and so or dotes over Bill O’Reilly’s explanation ,o£ Hammond’s dismal failure at the Sydney cricket ground on a “shirtfront” wicket. Of course not all can relax so perfectly. There are those who are up with the larks tending the cabbage patch, and mowing the lawn, most commendable activities to be sure. Others have to try their hand with the hammer and the saw. There is that door or window to repair to the accompaniment of much hammering and not a few uncomplimentary exclamations. Cars pulled up in empty streets in front of business premises signify that work goes on as usual behind closed doors for some.

But all this means very little to the housewife, whose work goes on just the same except that she has, may be, for better or for worse to put up with father and big brother for two whole days over the week-end. The, house still gets dirty and has to be cleaned, and young Johnnie, unlike Mahatma Gandhi, dpes not go on a fast over the week-end, and then on Friday she must ensure that the household is adequate ly provisioned for the week-end, for who knows what friends or cousins, cu week-end vacation by courtesy of the 40-hour week, may not pop in.

Utilisation of Our Leisure The newly-won leisure presents a golden opportunity for the sporting-in-clined to take full advantage of Qie exrensive facilities as offered in this town. For many it is a time for travel, and many of the cars passing through Ashburton on a Saturday morning are off to that race meeting or sporting fixture or may be ,just a picnic. The worthwhile utilisation of leisure is a major problem confronting New Zealand to-day. The other day a cable message announced that France had abandoned the 40-hour \veek in the interests of the resurrection of her national economy. In New Zealand there are many who believe that nothing is lost by the policy of no work on Saturday morning, and that may be so. A few years ago business as usual on Saturday morning was a regular institution, hut to-day the very reverse would seem to be equally as well established.