THE HOLIDAY QUESTION.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8989, 31 December 1894, Page 3

THE HOLIDAY QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —Your leader of the 18th instant re a superfluous holiday, calls for a few words of comment. The word superfluous to mc is out of place. While I am fully aware {rou are not an 'advocate of .short- hours of abour or the half-holiday movement, I am at a loss to account for your want of loyalty to an event which marks the history .of,, C ar terbury. -You complain of the community taking odd holidays on Saints' days, Ac.But mark the small section who indnlgo in these extra days. Banks and solicitors are the principal ones. Then they tell us they need all the extras-' to make up for the overtime they work.'* Yos, overtime-in these days, of depression. I i often take a" stroll' through the city of an evening and see banks, solicitors' offices, and warehouses with the gas light- shining ! tbrcugh the cracks aud crevices of - the 1 blinds, which shows to mc great want of ! management. You also remark it is an ! amiable weakness, no doubt, but flying from , work and indulging in amusement on every araiiable pretext is not the way to build up ' a great nation. .Mark ; how is it that you have not found outl that two,, half, days a week will have.the The farmers, of whom- yon claim to .be the special advocate, do moat of their business on Saturday, yet the banks, the solicitors', offices and merchants close, at one o'clock,'yet we are told that Thursday is the best day, and in the face of this onehalf close on Saturday—why not'the whole? In Dnnedin they close on Saturday. Surely if this town, which is far in advance of Christcharch, can do' so, we can. - Our farmers, who, it is said, can not be inconvenienced, mustshop on Saturday, yet their own so called institution, the Farmers' Cooperative Association, closes half a day. on' Saturday. Why, Sir, at a glance it can be seen that Saturday is the best day. Our farmers can do their business, on Friday. The, Banks open all day j the merchants' 4

offices and the shops for the masses on Friday evening till nine or ten o'clock. What more convenient ? The Saturday of to-day is no Saturday at all—horse racing, trotting, oiicket, boating, &c, and tho shops empty half their time. And yet we have such writers as "Forewarned," who, to my mind, should' take a week or two at the seaside, and then read his letter again, and I think ho would, be convinced that he had written on a subjeot ho knew nothing about.—Yours, Ac, . Saturday.