The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1895.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 191, 12 August 1895, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, AUGUST 12, 1895.

For tho cause that lacks aasistancs, For the wrong that aaeds reai'stacsc, For the fatura ia tlio distanoo. Aad tJao good that we can ao.

In view of the stir, the friction arid the agitation which arose in Auckland over the weekly half-holiday to shop assistants, it is comforting to read from the reports of inspectors in other parts of the colony, that the Act, considering its defective condition, has worked with smoothness. Mr Tregear, Secretary to the Labour Department, slates : " Over the greater part of the colony the Act has worked fairly well, and the slight disturbance of the surface of things, caused by every new departure, soon subsided into a contented and acquiescent adoption of the weekly half-holiday, not only as a necessary but an advantageous matter. In a few places, such as Gisborne, Greytown, and especially Auckland, the day gazetted was objected to by many of the shopkeepers, who considered their business interfered with by the Saturday afternoon closing." It should be noted as significant that in each of the places indicated by the Inspector as localities where there was a special amount of opposition, Saturday was the day vihich had befiti selected for the halfholiday.

Tile inspector at Napier says:— "The Shops and Shop Assistants Act is working vvell* and the employee^ appear to be enjoying their weekly half-holiday, for I havei no complaints from any of them, and the general public appeiar to appreciate more and more every day the working of this Act. At first it was thought inconsistent, but, as people get iised to it, they find there is no law comes nearer to please everybody thanahis Act." The Inspector at Wellington complains of the exemptions, which, he says, retard the successful working of the Act. He says the Chinese, by close attention, have be£n brought into title, "and now close their premises punctually at one o'clock, and give very little trouble." The Inspector at Wanganui states that the provisions ol the Act have been well carried out by the employers in the district, " but employers think it ought to be compulsory for all shops to close oh the half-holiday." The inspector at JPalrnerston Ndtth reports that the Act "is now carried out without a tourmur." .. The Inspector at Christ•church states; " When this Act tm&

into force the shopkeepers arid traders in the district fixed _ upon Thursday afternoon, and most loyally closed their business establishments until the conference fixed the day. There has been little or no complaining about the compulsory closing. The harassing and annoying effects of this law are its exemptions. I believe it would give very general satisfaction if the exemptions were dropped from the Bill altogether. Many who are now exempt would be giad if all were compelled to close on the one day." At Timaru the Inspector tells uc, "Thursday halfholiday has been held here for some years past, so that I have riot had to contend with the same difficulties which have been experienced in other districts where there has been riO fixed day." From Oamaru complaints of the exemptions alone are heard, otherwise shopkeepers approve of the Act. The Inspector at Dunedin says: " The Act has not worked so satisfactorily as - expected or wished for, which is entirely caused by the clauses exernptihg certain classes from its operation,"

Considering the coercive character of the Act, this is, we think, a remarkable body of testimony. It agrees generally, however, with the opinion prevailing in Auckland and with the petition promoted by the dissenting shopkeepers. If Wednesday had been proclaimed here instead of Saturday, there would have been no more friction than in those Southern cities where another day than Saturday was chosen, leaving the shopkeepers who preferred Saturday to close on that day. While the exemptions remain they will undoubtedly be a source of irritation and annoyance. We believe, moreover, that there is much truth in the statement made by the Inspector at Christchurch to the effect that many of the exempt shopkeepers would gladly close if their neighbours were also compelled to do so. It is a great advantage to a shopkeeper who has no assistant to get an afternoon clear for the purpose of attending to business matters with the wholesale houses; and an occasional afternoon to enjoy himself, with his family would be as welcoihe to him as to the rest of mankind. The shopkeeper in days gone by used to take life comparatively easy, and in many places on the Continent of Europe he does so still, but the increasing tendency in cities is to live at high pressure, and what does it all come to at the end of the week ?—a bare livelihood in 99 cases out of ioo, with xiroken health at a period when the average man should be hale and hearty. A large proportion ot the population have already secured the boon1 of a weekly half-holiday, with manifest benefit, why should the shopkeeper and his assistants be shut out?

The Government bill amending the act has not yet been brought down» but from indications of it's scope already given, we have no doubt it will contain provisions enabling the day to be changed when an unsuitable day was chosen, and it will also strike out theexemptions which were forced into the present act by the Legislative Council. But will the Council pass the amending bill ? The Government is in a hopeless minority there, and it is evident from measures which have already been rejected by the Upper Chamber that a radical alteration will have to be made in that body before it is brought in iine with public sentiment.