Sunday shopping for Taupo

Press, 22 November 1989, Page 4

Sunday shopping for Taupo

PA Wellingtori Taupo shopkeepers have won the right to trade on Sundays and public holidays, except for Christinas Day and Good Friday. The Shop Trading Hours Commission said there was general support for the application by the majority of Taupo retail shops for permission to trade on Sundays.

The commission did not consider the Northern Distribution Union’s concern that an exemption might have flow-on effects. The union asked that if an order were granted, it should provide for Sunday work to be voluntary and for existing workers to have first option to work. The commission agreed to both those conditions but turned down a request that workers should have a day of their choice off in lieu of Sunday.

i “While undoubtedly the summer •'months are when the largest population increases occur, year-round pursuits are plentiful at Taupo and there is a large range of leisure activity available to visitors,” it said.

“The central North Island ski-fields are also in reasonable proximity.” It therefore decided that any grant should be for the whole year and not just the summer period, the commission said. The Distribution Workers’ Federation secretary, Mr Paul Kimble, said the federation was concerned the commission took such a broad definition of tourism.

“We can understand a town like Queenstown, which is geographically isolated and clearly an internationally marketed tourist resort having that flexibility, but it is going too far to apply that same flexibility to Taupo,” Mr Kimble said.