Court Reserves Decision On After-Hours Sales

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30092, 28 March 1963, Page 16

Court Reserves Decision On After-Hours Sales

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 27. Each commission agent selling in New Zealand was, in fact, a one-man shop, said Mr H. D. Kidd in the Arbitration Court at Auckland today.

As such, they, and the companies whose products they were selling, were vitally interested in getting an exemption to an award limiting the sale of goods outside normal retail trading hours, he said.

The Court—Mr Justice Tyndall, Mr W. N. Hewitt (employers’ member) and Mr A. B. Grant (workers’ member) —was hearing the northern general retail shop assistants’ dispute. At issue was the definition and pay men of salesmen who completed sales outside shop hours and what products they should be allowed to sell after retailers have closed for the day. The Auckland Shop Assistants’ Union was the applicant in the dispute, on which decision was reserved by the Court when the hearing ended this evening. There were 227 parties to the matter. Six counsel appeared today, a rare occurrence in award proceedings. Mr Kidd, appearing for Gordon and Gotch (N.Z.), Ltd., said educational books, t cause of their nature, usually must be exhibited and sol' 4 after normal retail hours. Because each commission agent selling the books was. in effect, under the Shops and Offices Act a one-man shop, it was vital for the company to get the exemption in order to continue its operations. Mr R. T. Garlick said Electrolux, Ltd., was anxious to ensure that it could continue to use the selling

methods it had used in New Zealand for 40 years. The company’s activities were based on agents who sold on commission and 90 per cent, of Electrolux business w’as done by visiting people at home. Miss L. Purcell, for the union, said the union was concerned about people selling goods in the outer areas on Saturdays and Sundays. Mr R. M. Barker, for the Auckland Retailers Association, suggested that in the light of submissions made to the Court, organs, band instruments and sew’ing machines should be added to the list of exempted goods. He said any after-hours trading should not extend into Saturday, and there was a very unsatisfactory state of affairs relating to the conditions under which salesmen worked.

There was a fairly high degree of illicit selling brought about by confusion in the understanding of the award. There were selling agents who were in direct competition with retail stores. Mr J. S. Alexander, for the Electrical Retailers’ Association, submitted that it would be completely wrong for the Court to promulgate an award which w’ould hurt those businesses which had been estab-

lished on the basis of home selling because it would not only be detrimental to employers, it would be detrimental to employees. Several witnesses today said it was vital that the husband was present when a salesman visited a home either to demonstrate or complete the sales of household goods. Among the reasons they gave were:

(1) Wives were often unwilling to commit themselves on figures often reaching £2OO to £3OO. (2) If a trade-in was involved the husband was usually the owner. There had been cases of wives tradingin goods without their husbands’ consent, and a short time later the articles were reclaimed. (3) Sales contracts should always be signed by the husband.