FIVE O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 234, 30 September 1908, Page 8

FIVE O'CLOCK CLOSING.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Would any of your readers kindly say why all the warehouses, wholesale shops, mercantile offices and factories can close down at five o'clock in the evenings, thus letting their employees get home to enjoy the advantage of a bit of daylight and a little recreation before darkness sets in, while the retail drapers, grocers, etc., keep their places of business open till six o'clock, when there is no one around to buy; all the business that is done in that last hour 1 am sure not paying for the gas burned. Their hands get out at six, it is dark before they get home, and when tea is over and the paper read, it is almost time to go to bed, and the same thing to go through every day, with the blessed exception of the halfholiday. Now, Sir, will not some one \vbo has influence take this matter up, ani if only for the fine months, try and obtain this inestimable boon for the retail assistants, who.l know would be prepared to start at an earlier hour in the morning, if necessary, to obtain the advantage of an extra hour in the evening.—l am, etc., ONE INTERESTED.