HALF HOLIDAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 225, 22 September 1943, Page 4

HALF HOLIDAY

SHOPS AND HOTELS

ELECTION DAY OBSERVANCE

A compulsory half holiday will be observed by shops and hotels next Saturday, the day of the general election. Factories, however, will not be obliged to close, but they must allow employees a reasonable time off to record their votes. Under the Electoral Act, the day on which an election takes place is deemed to be a public holiday after mid-day, and it shall not be lawful to sell intoxicating liquors in any licensed premises between the hours of noon and 7 p.m. The Act also provides that where the polling day in any election is other than that appointed as the weekly half-holiday under the Shops and Offices Act, the provisions of that Act relating to the weekly halfholiday shall be deemed to refer to the polling day in lieu of the day so appointed, and it shall not be necessary for any employer to obserye the day so appointed in the week in which the polling day falls.

It will not be necessary for any factory to close during any working hours on polling day, but the occupier 'of the factory shall afford to each of his employees a reasonable opportunity for recording of votes, and no deduction shall be made from the wages of any such employee in respect to the time occupied in so recording his vote, provided that such time does not exceed one working hour. Every person committing an offence under this section of the Act will be liable to a fine of £5.