SHORTER WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 186, 7 August 1936, Page 15

SHORTER WEEK.

SHOP ASSISTANTS.

APPLICATION BEFORE COURT. CASE FOR THE EMPLOYERS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. The hearing of the application by the shop assistants' unions fjr a 40-liour week commenced to-day Under the Shops and Offices Act, 1930, the hours are reduced from 48 to 41. Mr. T. O. Bishop, fo" thj employers-, pointed out that the Court had already refused to make ail order prohibiting work on Saturday in the grocery trade, and it would appear that tiiis decision was made on grounds applicable to all retail business. The necessity for going on with the ease was therefore removed. Mr. A. W. Croskery said the case was entirely different. The Court, in its decision in the butchers' and grocers' cases, had specified the point of the perishable nature of the goods, which fact was not associated with the present case. Mr. Justice Page said the case must proceed. Mr. Bishop continued that retail business was a channel of distribution to the public of manufacturers' produce, and was therefore the concern of the manufacturer and of the general public. The efficiency of retail business must be measured by the quality of the service which is rendered on the one hand to the manufacturer and on the other hand to the public. The service to the manufacturer could not be considered an efficient service unless it enabled the maximum quantity of manufactured goods to be distributed to the consumers. Anything "which interfered with the maximum distribution must tend to render the service of the retailer to the manufacturer an inefficient service. Similarly, the service of the retailer to the general public must be gauged by the degree to which the legitimate demands and requirements of the general public were satisfied. Mr. Bishop called evidence to show that the adoption of a 40-hour week by retail shopkeepers throughout the Dominion would result in a falling-off in the service rendered by retail distributors, and that Saturday morning trade was of great importance to retail business. Owing to the lateness of the hour when the employers' case concluded, it was decided that the employees' case should be submitted in writing.