Milton Parliamentary Union.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 56, 18 June 1908, Page 5

Milton Parliamentary Union.

SATURDAY DE GLARED BENEFICIAL.

The regular weekly meeting of the Milton Parliamentary Union was held on Tuesday evening, the Speaker (Mr Jas. Christie) presiding. Apologies for absence of Messrs Paul and Scott were received.; also from Mr J. Wight, on account of illness.

Mr D. Kirby was re-admitted as a member.

Mr Joseph R. Lynch moved that in th*e opinion of this Union the Saturday half-holiday has been more beneficial to the town and district of Milton than Wednesday. He thought there was no question about this. The matter had been discussed last session, but now the matter was localised, and the effect of the change could be seen in many ways. Ithad been said that the change to Saturday would dislocate trade, and would interfere with the consumer and the distributor, and that supplies would be got from Dunedin. No complaints were forthcoming from any of the business peo pie interested. No complaints had appeared in the Press. No one had written complaining of the change, so there was no grievance to ventilate. Butchers and bakers might complain of the change, but they were a small minority. Naturally any change of holiday would disorganise their trade for a short period. Supply and demand would right itself very quickly. A reduction of sale in small goods might result in Friday night's trade, as compared with Saturday, but that would come right. The same applied to bakers. They had had since the Saturday half-holiday was instituted whole holidays on Saturday, and no harm was done* He would like to see the Saturday half-holiday universal, or at anyrate, all over Bruce County. Opportunity should be given for the electors in a county or electoral district to say what day the holiday should be, and he felt sure Saturday would be fixed. It was coming to the time when Saturday would be universal. In Milton, bowling had taken a great turn, and on Saturdays there were so many players in attendance that they could not all get a game the ground was too small, and they werej enlarging it. The numbers bowling could only be described as " Stupendous." A Harrier Club had been successfully started, and runniug strong. The hockey girls had an increased membership. Girls in shops could now get off .to play. Football had been benefited. VVhen there was part of a community getting a halfholiday on Wednesday, and part on Saturday the best could never be got together, but if they had in Dunedin a Saturday half-holiday, what a turnout there would be of players.

A member: There would not be enough grounds to play on. Mr Lynch: Let them come out to Milton. There is plenty of spare ground here. The half-holiday ques tion should be a test one with members standing for a Borough Council If they did not favor Saturday they should not vote for them. It ought to be lett to the electors to say —(a voice And they would say " Wed nesday.") Mr Lynch disagreed and felt sure the consensus of opinion would iavor Saturday. An individual hardship should not stand in the way of a popular reform. Where Saturday halt-holiday acted harshly on certain trades, there was provision for them to be exempt. Morally he thought the town had improved with the change. It was quieter on Saturday evenings, and more law-abiding. The change to Saturday he held to be beneficial all round. It was an improvement in every way, and should be retained. Mr Miller said that as Milton drew its living from a radius of 10 to 15 miles those outside the Borough should be considered. Workers in the country got no holiday, and if they did get one they were glad to take a rest on it. When a country worker finished up for the week he had to visit the Borough to get his weekly supplies, or see a few friends and be sociable. He finds the tradesmen's {.lace shut, and something the worker wants attending to, has to be left to Monday, and a loss of earning power resulted. The loss of earning power through workers in the country being brought into line with those who fixed the half-holiday merely to suit sports was greater than they imagined. Football, hockey, bowling and harriers never kept a town in business prosperity. It had been said they had country stores to supply country wants, That was true, but sometimes other things were required which were not stocked by country places, and the country people had the right surely to get a choice.

He could not say there hnd been any great falling-off in .■ le owinqj to Saturday being fixed for ih-. i.-T u day, but the country people hau . inconvenienced, and he had not heard that any tradesman in Milton had laid the basis of a fortune since the change came about. He thought it was the other way about, and some people in Milton were anxious to get out of business. Mr Lynch had said that flaxcutters, .rabbiters, etc., in the country could give all the orders they wanted filled in 10 minutes, and get enough to last a month, etc, That was not giving much consideration to the country people in comparison with those who lived in the borough who could get their supplies fresh every day. Supplying by carts which went round limited the choice, and the country people were as much entitled to a choice as the townspeople. He believed that Wednesday was the best day for the half-holiday, and if sport was the only argument in favor of Saturday it was a poor one. Mr W. Kirby said there were four different points of interest to be considered in regard to fixing the halfholiday. The employers, the employees, the residents, and the country people of a community had to bo considered. If the employer was hurt by the change to Saturday he was keeping quiet about it. If any direct loss had resulted to him they would have heard of it and the matter would have been brought forward for discussion before now. The Press so far had given the opinions of several employers, and there was no unanimity amongst them. The employees were in favor of Saturday. They got one and a-half days for recreation and rest after a week's toil, and that was what they looked forward to. Employees had their chance to rest or go in for recreation. Residents in the borough were able to get their supplies without trouble and were well catered for, and they could have no objection to the Saturday half-holiday. For country people he admitted it might be inconvenient. Farmers made Saturday a short day for working, and then thought of a visit to the borough. Friday night did not suit them, and in this respecl perhaps they had a grievance. There was power under the amended Act of 1907 to bring the factory hands and the shop hands into line regarding the half-holiday, but it was not in his opinion a good policy to be always changing. A vote taken every year might result in changes which would be detrimental to factories where Saturday suited best, and no definite point would be arrived at. A break in the running of many factories in the middle of the week would be disastrous, as there were certain processas which required time to mature, and to close these factories on the Wednesday would mean a great loss to the factories, which would eventually tall on the employees. That was the fault he had to find with the amendment of the Act, which gave the residents the power to fix the factory half-holiday on the same day as the day fixed by the local body, He held that it would be better for ali parties to have Saturday fixed permanently as the day of the half-holiday. Mr W. Lilburne said Milton would not be self-supporting except for the trade of the country people, and theretore the tradespeople and residents should consider and cater for the country people. The country was the backbone of the town, and Saturday did not suit farmers and country people generally. They had got into the habit of coming into town for years past and getting their business done, and finishing up with a " long lie and a tea-break-fast " cn Sunday. The farmers didn't want a half holiday to play football nor run out with harriers. They were glad often to sit down and rest when they got the chance. The farmers did not run to the Press with their grievances. The butchers lost all their farmers' Saturday night sausage trade, and the bakers suffered in the sale of their small goods. He felt sure the Wednesday half-holiday would be changed back to next year, as the present state of affairs was not beneficial to the greatest number. Mr D. Duthie favored the Saturday half-holiday. On Saturday nights there used to be a lot of young men in the streets] now the sexes were more evenly balanced, and socially Saturday night was the better night for the holiday than Wednesday. Mr Currie said Saturday was not the most beneficial day to hold the halfholiday. It did not convenience the country people. When sport was placed ahead of business the country people had the right to complain. 11 Saturday was to be observed that was all right, but in Milton it was carried in a Council which did not go into power on the Saturday half holiday question. Mr D. Kirby said volunteering had greatly benefitted by the Saturday halfholiday (a voice, " Moonshine,") Well, he could give an instance. The Bruce Rifles had won a cup recently. There were many mere boys in the shooting team, and they had had the chance to practice. Prior to that it was the old members who had to be called on. On June 3rd last, the Prince of Wales' Birthday, the shops had kept

t open and held the holiday on Saturday .n day. If business people were against the Saturday holiday why did ahey do that ? They should know which day to take to sun their business. He had not noticed any falling away in [the condition of th* lradcsm:n or [shopkeepers who wae siLl to have 1 suffered by the change, nor with the country people who, it was said, were not now able to get sausages for Sunday. People must eat, and they must get supplies whether the holiday was Saturday or Wednesday. It was rath er a good thing for the Church too, and that had been brought in, as people now get home earlier on Saturday, and are in a better state to go to church. If country people wanted the rest they were said by some people to require, why did they not stay at home on Saturday night instead of coming into town ?

Mr Dodd favored Wednesday for Milton. The tradespeople benefitted by the people coming to town, but now there were very few. Mr Lynch, in reply, said nothing serious in the way of opposition had been raised to the Saturday halt-holi-day. All that had been said was small, insignificant, and, in fact, frivolous. Volunteering had been benefitted, and it was not a sport but a serious matter. Every able bodied man should be able to use a rifle and get plenty of practice at the butts. Any country which had a desire to progress and maintain its nationality had to rely on its volunteers, and they must get an opportunity to become efficient with the rifle.

On being put the motion was carried by two votes that Saturday was the more beneficial to Milton.

The debate on the question as to whether magazine articles, etc., should be signed was postponed till next meeting.