SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 27, 1 February 1921, Page 7

SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING.

(To the EdJtor.) Sir.—While Section' 3 (a) of the Early Closing Act provide* for a 48 week, 1 am ziven to understand you can Of.eu your shop from S.iiO a.m. until li p-in. each day up to. and including Friday each week, with the exception of a holiday intervening between. 1 cannot see a word in the particulars given in Sutur- j day's "Star" relating to Friday bein;; a law- night, only Christmas Eve, Xew Year's Kve, and Thursday preceding Good Friday, bemg mentioned. Taking each day at 9J hours you pet on Friday at 6 p.m. 47J hours without a late, night, and leaving Saturday out. I"nles3 you close ail shops one hour at lunch time each day you cannot keep a 48-hour week, and that leaves Saturday out. limitin? it to a five day week. Now 1 do not keep ray shop open for pleasure, but to help mc to pay my debts and keep my family in the necessaries o; life. I am tOO old to secure permanent employment (not old enough for the old age pension), but am not exempted from paying 20/ in the £. I have a young family to keep, four of them ?o:nc: to school when it opens next week. My business has been a help to mc to keep them so fur, but hodge mc round about with all kinds of restrictions and you take away my ability to pay my way. — I am. etc.. A SMALL SHOPKEEPER. (To the fMitor.> Pir,—T am rather surprised at the apathy shown by the Auckland shopkeepers, as the new closing regulations mean so much to them. I " suggest that we follow Dunedin and Wellington's example by raising a Strong protest aaainst the imposed conditions, otherwise it will mean closing down to many of us. In n-.o>t cases we havo ordered months ahead, rents have been raised, and now the main source of the email shopkeeper's livelihood, the evening trade, has been taken away without any notice or even a hint at compensation, "yet we are supposed to live in a free country. —I am, etc., ANOTHER SMALL SHOPKEEPER(To the Editor.) Sir.— From the little I see of this it seems to be the injustice that chiefly rankles in the mind* of those concerned. Every family nian knows the difficulty of finding a chemist open at a critical time, yet he passe* scores of '■lolly -, shops perhaps on his way doing a brisk trade not to mention the motor ice cream cars and barrows, minus rents. What are a fewbook shops in Auckland compared to the number of "lolly" shops and yet our legislators insist on those few being closed at 0 o'clock, while the latter remain open till 11 or 12 o'clock, and arcagain open soon after 7 a.m., thus they really gain two or three extra days a week? It means the strangling of the small shops by the big.—l am, etc., DUNEDIN". (To the Editor.) Sir,—What a fuss about the fewbook shops in Auckland h-aving to close. Who wants to buy books. Sell them lollies. Were the hundreds of lolly shops to be closed in.-tead —even if 'or one week only—what a hue and cry Lhere would be. Yet thpy do more harm to the young and ignorant than the liotels would if open. Here is a man swearing because he cannot buy a 'Star" or a stamp. "Star"' indeed! What's he want with a ''Star V Sell him in ice-cream -—I am, etc., ONLOOKER.