THE HALF HOLIDAY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 107, 29 January 1908, Page 7

THE HALF HOLIDAY.

WEDNESDAYj FOR WELLINGTON. ' SATURDAY PROPOSAL DEFEATED. ' , i AN ANIMATED DISCUSSION. j•1 : Representatives jof the municipalities cow > pnsed m tho Wellington combined district;met at the Towns Hall yesterday afternooiy.v r i for -tha i purpose; if* fixing tho. day for- tliii" -'-.' - sfatutory weekly half-holiday for. the orisuina -.s.-vi vi yeai. Those present were: The Mayor of' ' . Wellington (Hon T. W. Hislop), Mr.! A. 0. " Pearco: (Mayor of iKarori), • Sir. G.i J. Craw*: - ; . ford.(Mayor„of Mii.-amar), snd Councillors jX- : Stnith,- G. i3hjrtcl!fto,-R.Frcteher,and . Cohen (Wellington City Council). As the Mayor of .Wellington was lato m ■ arriving/:.;" Councillor Smith was-votedto :tho chair. '* ARGUMENTS FOR SATURDAY. ) "M v Councillor Fletcher nioved that tliof i. holiday ho held -.ore Saturday. He said that ••••, Saturday appeared :to vbe- the- 'natural day':»?. ■ ■ for. tho. holiday; No doubt the shopkeepers :>«.r would arguo that the change would reßalt--'m!i%». ! trdde,' bat-Jievheld^th.U-people who/; f'-. vj wanted .to buy, goods , could, bny.. them fu&t'las frfell on Friday as on Saturday. The fact' ■■■:■ j, of Snrtday doming immediately after the- ij. Saturday half-holiday would give tlw assist--ants an opportunity to get. a 1 really! good* • ■ rest;.--. AtrWrtngantif the. sh&pkdepers them- ■;...> ? solves had deptitatroniscd . the Borough'! v' CotfiWil,'4skiffg that the half-holiday should"u : - bo on Saturdky. jThus- Wanganui was trying • to show tho way to other places. : At , Brisbano and many other, places the shops had < the Saturday half-holiday, and it was work- ■ . : ■ ing i Tho question .of .'.■,"l habit - had -to be .dVdfComo, btft- tho amount s ' J of , ffado done by. the shops on ■ Saturday- ;vv, | night was -vet/ small' indeed. Workmen whowere paid;-i(in nFridayc- or-- I Thursday flights* . would take l their rnonoy home and it fcdulds. . be-, spent in proper directions, but on Satnr-i •.,.3 days tliero were many inducements, to spend* . it in other directions. He admitted that .thev'-rv shopkeepers represented, a largo portion of - • > i the community, but the assistants, who- ; ri were also, deeply, interested in this question, .• . . were to tho shopkeepers as ten. to one. It? ~ would be. fair and equitable to give thai Saturday half-holiday a trial at least. . .' j. i. ACiAINST SPLITTING THE WEEK, j, •Mr. Pcarce, who 7 seconded, tho motion,-V.:. ■• \ said !that fqr the -last- hve years ho had' r advocated-.tho, general. Saturday half-holiday, . : : Certain. shopkeepers on Lambton Quay had' ] -/j been closing on Saturday afternoons for tho) ..i last two years. They were still doing so, and <■* they.-were,not/oomplaining of loss of trade. \ ' The arrangement 'seemedlto' be good for. themtf i: and for their, assistants.. As tho workers'iiv i : » all trades had tho half-holiday on Saturday,!. . i he thought tho.shopkeepers might very welt i : : t fall into line. ,It was bettor to have tho half-J j holiday coming next to the Sunday , than tw: • split up/the week. ' , . . . | . STRONG OBJECTIONS OF SHOP- \ J ] ~ /\, , .KEEPERS. --/■ V. ,• ,j • ;Coiincillor;.fcolfefl_':m6yed':an amendment:/ I " That tho half-holiday be on Wednesday as ' 1 at present." i He said that tho present':ar-l! rangomenthad worked very well. Auckland l ' --j and Dunedin had .tried'the Saturday hair- • holiday, but shopkeepers defied tho law, and', i would, not close, so the day had to bo altered' j again.. Trains , r came "in from Upper Hutt,| .: ■■ Hio&l;ariKij!;aSd other places oti. Saturdays,; .-'-j bringing country 1 people, who wanted to do 1 • The: Working maft also got* j himself cleaned and washed upon - < and went out among the shops. Ho would) not do' night if ho was going } back to Work-mi' Saturday. As for the shop* : ; on Lambton Q,Uav that closed On Saturdays,; : • 1 he noticed tliatwhen there was extra trade taf : /J be dono, as -lit Christmas, they . took carrf .-r to, obtain permission; from the Labour D&a ■' partiiiont to'keep open all iJay O.ut of the. 429 towns and boroughs/of New" . Zealand, Only sis had decided'to h'avp the statutory halMioliday on Saturday, and those wero very "'small places. 'Ho wished . ' to point out that, l'f Wednesday was fixed fop. 1 i thpi, half-holiday, - as ,at present, . tuoso whor Wished to havo Saturday could do so, whereas if tho conference fixed Saturday, those what -N might bavo preferred Wednesday would havo* no_ liberty of .choice. Tho present system > suited'all tlio small shopkeepers, but if -th« ; ,, : - i Saturday 'ipropiml'was ; carried,'thero ,woult ; j uft a worse row'than there was a few years' ; ago over Clauso 3of tho Shops., and Offices i Act. Ho would guarantee, that, the shops' .• tfould'iiot , close_on the, Saturilay. r \'i Hon. T. W. Hislop: " Has thero been any • j expression of opiiiion on tho subject on '; part of the'shopkeepers or assistants?" 1 . The Chairn/an: "A great, number of the' 'j assistants prefer the Wednesday " kalf-holi- 1 :] dny.'! ' i:,.:. l ; v : 'v- ; i 'THE THIE NOT RIPE. Councillor Shirtcliffe' tlio amend' - ment. Ho agreed'that Saturday was, ■ peiw : hans. the'oretically ,tho natural ua.y for tha' - Inilf-holiday, but thought the timo was I'arJ froni ri[>a for altering: tho practice that bad! prevailed so many years, and had been eatisi; factory to the shopkeepers and tlio great! ' ' majority of tho assistants. Ho hud-noiji hoard of any general demand on tho part otl tlio assistants ; for a chango, land' even in thero wero such n demand, hei thought tliointerests of the great body of ahopkeeporsi carrying on business hero should bo first consideration. Tho proposed change ' i would bo boiind to mako a considerable differ- c ence to tho weekly takings of the , shop- •; keepers. A very largo number of'-them ,' j that thoir takings on Saturday- ' ■; afternoon.and evening wero equal, to t-lioso of- • j any other two days in the week. A scheme. : i that could bo worked at Wangamii would. j not necessarily unit a large placo like Wei- J lington. Such a chango as was proposed"- . • might, come later oil, but at present he was i satisfied that 90 j>er cent, of the shopkeepers- j were opposed to it, and their interests should .. i be paramount. 'The shopkeepers largely dopended upon tho amount of shopping" that . v was done siniply-because people haa the facilities for doing it. , . : .':l

A REFERENDUM,

The Hon. T. W. Hi ploy pointed out that', t.ho Shops and Offices Amendment Act' of| lost, session gave the doctors power to' alter the day of/the half-holiday,- by of a" poll, which must he taUori on a requisition to that offcct" signed 'by a certain! proportion of tho electors, being presented t-o----the City Council.. His personal feeling waa was' desirable to aivjr tho day, lio : would rather leave it to the people to* say so. The Attending Act w'as passed tor the purpose of meeting the agitation and! giving the peoplo an opportunity of deciding) tlio question. ' "" " j. The" Chairman' alld Councillor Cohen pointed'out'"that'tho plebiscite provided for inj tho Act could not bo taken until the noxfa general, municipal election. i

THE MiI)AMAH. POINT OF VIEW. ] Mr.'Crawford said that, though the ques-N tint! did not concern Miramar so much as] some other placcs, yet, so far as that borough] was concerned, lie thought it-would bo better] to;continue' the present arftmgetncttfc, which* suited thoir week-end population. lio thought,' too, that tho present syst«n should bo mainJ tainod for- tlie sake of the-small shop-] keepers, who as a class were in dauber 'ofi being crushed Jout,. ,Ho would also point otitj though this might be loi-ined a side-issue,), that the football - grounds and reenjatioa grounds. 011 the Miramar flat Were fully occu* pied oil Wednesday and Saturday afternoons,, and consequently, if there was billy one half-.' holiday in the week, half tho football teams, that woro accustomcd to play there would 1 be .unable' to do so. ■: v SMALL SHOPS AND ORDINARY PEOPLE.' The Chairman supported the amondmont ; u\ tho interest of the l small shopkeopors. Tho shops 011 Lambtan Quay, which had been) rcforrcd to, had a lnrp;o coluiectioii among a, class of peoplo who did most of their shop-! ping on Mondays, but: that would not fit 1 , in with the household arrangements of or-' dinary people.-Assistants said tho break in-! the'; middle of the. week "suited'-them, and it!

was doubtless batter for their health. . He was' in "favour of retaining the Wednesday half-holiday;until the electors decided otherwise in the manner prescribed by. the. Act: . Councillor Fletcher [having briefly; .replied; the amendment was put-- and ■ carried, all those. presenttvoting, for ,fy. except Messrs* Fletcher" and Pearce. ■■ • 1