THE HALF HOLIDAY AT BIRKENHEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 32, 7 February 1900, Page 3

THE HALF HOLIDAY AT BIRKENHEAD.

(To the Editor.)

Sir.lt is Said .that misfortunes sometimes prove a blessing in disguise. If you will reverse this and make it read that a blosßlng is about to be turned into a misfortune Without any disguise, you will express my present sentiments on the

weekly half-holiday question at Birkenhead as decided by the Borough Council of that ilk. The day upon which local shopkeepers have been forbidden by the law to supply the public with the necessaries of life after 1 p.m. has up to how been Thursday. To educate the public in that belief notices have been displayed •and much patient tact exercised in soothing the harrowed feelings of would-be purchasers who have driven perhaps seven or eight miles in a vain quest of the necessary butter, the toothsome rasher, or the succulent onion, and that education being now complete we learn that the holiday is to be changed to Wednesday, and the work done all over again— which is absurd. ' ,

It is absurd, firstly, because upon the application of one storekeeper who has, I believe, only one employee, the Borough Council, without consulting the wishes of the other business people, put and carried the motion to change the day.lt is absurd because this high-handed proceeding on the part of a body supposed to safeguard the interests of the borough is in danger of putting entirely out of gear the working machinery of the two largest and most important businesses of the district—Messrs Clow Bros, and Thos. Smith to wit, both of Birkenhead and .Northcote; and it is absurd because the 13 or 14 employees of these firms—for which class of workers this scheme of an affectionate Government for salvation from slavery Was conceived, born, and all incomplete put into force by the strong arm of the law—are utterly and entirely unwilling to have this change forced upon them to suit the minority, believing that the wishes of the greater number should be respected. When Thursday was the weekly spell wa could go over to town and transact our own business in comfort, while town holi-day-makers to this side could rely upoh beiqg able to purchase such things as they might require. Under the change in view they can purchase nothing, and we 'poor souls will find a wilderness of deserted shops to do business with, and will be compelled to wander up and down and to and fro, anathematising those duhderheaded Councillors who, without consulting or considering us, have taken away our bread and given us a stone.

Under these circumstances, will ■ you kindly inform me if the resolution passed by the Council is binding upon me or my employer? Have the Council power to reconsider the matter on the face of a petition that matters remain as they are, and can the employers declare their own holiday by putting up a notice stating which day of the week they will observe and notifying the Inspector?—l am, etc., EMPLOYEE.