TRADING ON SATURDAY

Press, Volume LXXXIIi, Issue 25214, 19 June 1947, Page 3

TRADING ON SATURDAY

NEW BRIGHTON AND SUMNER SHOPS

UNOPPOSED APPLICATIONS GRANTED

Seventeen unopposed applications against the provisions of awards which forbade Saturday trading were granted to shopkeepers at Sumner and New Brighton by Mr G. G. Chisholm, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The Magistrate refused to grant five applications by grocers and delicatessen proprietors in the areas, these being opposed by chain store representatives. Two more applications were adjourned sine die.

Five awards concerned were those of the retail grocers’ assistants, retail shop assistants, fish shop assistants, male hairdressers’ and tobacconists’ assistants, and butchers.

Mr R. P. Thompson and Mr B. McClelland appeared for most of the applicants and Dr. A. L. Haslam represented Tucks, Ltd., and Mr R. A. Young, the Self Help Co-operative,

Some applications were withdrawn. Shops at Sumner and New Brighton had been open on Saturdays for years, and the type of business there made Saturday trading suitable, said Mr Thompson. When amalgamation pro-

posals with the . city were discussed, it was promised that the rights of shopkeepers would be preserved. The first thing that occupiers knew of having .to close their shops was advice from the Labour Department, anl in January application for exemption from the provisions of the had been made to the Court of Arbitration and also to the Magistrate’s Court, but the latter could not be dealt with • until judgment was delivered by the Arbitration Court.

The applications which were withdrawn had been made mostly by . employers of labour, said Mr Thompson. The Court had no power to alter hours of work or overtime' rates, and even if exemption were granted, they would not be able to employ any labour, and so had withdrawn the claims.

Applications which were not opposed. should be granted, contended Mr Thompson. In cases whftre opposition was made, a substantial effect on the business of other shops would have to be proved, and the onus of proof was on the parties who considered they would be adversely affected by the applications being granted. Until a proper trial was given, no one could tell how these shops which had been forced to close would be affected, he sa id- There was also the ground of public interest to be considered. Many of the applicants whose claims for exemption were not contested, said that from 40 to 50 per cent, of their business was done on Saturdays, and that if they were forced to close their shops on that day, they would have to go out of business. Those whose applications were granted were:— Harry Edgar Thomas, a hairdresser and tobacconist, of Sumner; William Francis ■Talbot, a hairdresser, of Sumner; Frederick George Barritt, a hairdresser, of New Brighton (Mr P. P. J. Amodeo); Charles Gibson, a hairdresser and tobacccnisr, of New Brighton (Mr R. A. Young). Madge Bardsley, jeweller and watchmaker, of New Brighton; Jack Leslie Boyd, cycle and electrical dealer, of New Brighton; Marjorie Elise Clarke, shoe shop proprietress, of New Brighton; Agnes May Crew, drapery shop proprietress, of New Brighton; Anne Josephine Dunlc-p, milliner, of New Brighton; Francis James Gracie, men’s outfitter, of New Brighton; Sarah Jane Johnson, proprietress of a fancy goods shop at New Brighton; Winsome Loose, proprietress of a clothing and fancy goods shop at New Brighton; John Edwin Scott, partner of Lawrence Wilfred Scott, paint shop proprietor, of New Brighton; Claude George Smart, stationer and newsagent, of New Brighton; William Mason Tolertc-n, bookseller and librarian, of New Brighton; Ronald Horace Wills, boot shop proprietor and repairer, of New Brighton; Margaret Lamprill, manageress of a book and stationery shop and lending library, owned by Kathleen C. Hart, of Sumner. The cases of Ronald G. Herrick and S. R. Ingold. Ltd., were adjourned sine Applications Opposed The applications of five grocers and delicatessen owners were opposed by Tuck’s, Ltd., and Self Help Co-operative, Ltd. Herbert Bruce Parkin, a grocer, of ’South Brighton, said that recently he had closed his shop on Saturdays, but had kept his dairy open. His shop was about one mile from Central Brighton, where Tuck’s and Self-Help had shops. Since the closing of grocers’ shops in Central Brighton, he had had no increase in registered customers. There were three other grocers trading in South Brighton. The general opinion of residents was against Saturday closing, and a petition had been signed by many. Frederick Buck, a grocer and dairyman, of South Brighton, said that Saturday was worth two week days in turnover. He had had no increase in registered customers recently. To Mr Young, he said that his turnover had dropped substantially since he began closing his shop on Saturdays. The evidence of another grocer and dairyman, Victor Henry Coombes, who did not appear, was read by Mr Thompson, and was confirmed by Jack Leslie Boyd. Charles Felix Stanley Calvert; dairy and delicatessen shop proprietor, of Nev/ Brighton, said that he had 43 customers registered for butter, and that he had not registered any new ones since Saturday closing began at New Brighton. About two-thirds of his business was in groceries. Myrtle Nellie Smith, proprietress of a delicatessen at Sumner, gave details of stock held in her shop. Evidence in opposition to the applications was given by John Leonard Barnard, ’managing director of Tuck’s, Ltd. He said that the shop at New Brighton had more than 900 registrations for butter and delivered all over Brighton. If the shops in South Brighton were allowed to remain open on Saturdays, it would adversely affect his business.

The Self Help Co-operative, Ltd., would have preferred to keep its shops open, but was prevented from doing so by the provisions of the new award, said Mr Young. The cases were the first to be brought to the Court concerning the former boroughs of Sumner and New Brighton, and if the applications were granted, a precedent which might lead to a .further crop of applications from shopkeepers in those areas would be created. The Self Help Co-operative was not adopting a “dog in the manger” attitude; but its trade in these districts must be affected adversely in the course of time if the applications were successful, said Mr Young. He said that the onus to prove they would not affect the businesses of the objectors was on the applicants. The South Island supervisor of the company, John B. Kilpatrick, claimed that if the applicants were permitted to open on Saturdays, the business of Self Help shops would be reduced. To Mr Thompson, he said he could not tell just how great the effect would be until a trial had been made. John Jackson, secretary of the Canterbury Master Grocers’ Association, said that the association was opposed to the grocers’ shops being opened on Saturdays, as the competition would be unfair. “I had standing instructions from the association to oppose anything like this,” he said. It was impossible for him to say that if a certain number of shops were allowed to open on Saturdays, other businesses would not be substantially affected,. said the Magistrate, refusing the opposed applications. By an unfortunate set of circumstances, some had no option but to close on Saturdays because they employed labour, he said.