SATURDAY CLOSING

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 190, 8 May 1937, Page 17

SATURDAY CLOSING

Business Men Complain at Upper Hutt FARMERS’ TRADE LOST • / Proprietors and executives of Upper Hutt’s largest business houses strongly condemned the recent change-over to Saturday half-holiday and Friday late night in statements to “The Dominion” yesterday. The manager of the largest business described the new arrangement as having a most harmful economic effect on the town. It was a most regrettable state of affairs when several councillors could effect an alteration in the half-holiday which was against the visiles of a public petition. His firm paid out £lOO weekly in wages, but had no more say in the matter than individual shopkeepers who were unaffected for the reason that because of the nature of their business they do not have to close at all. The takings now on Fridays, with the late night, and Saturday morning did not equal what was put through on Saturdays alone at the time when there was all day and late night shopping, and a Wednesday half-holiday. If the business people existed on the Upper Hutt trade I alone it would not matter what day was observed for the half-holiday, but they depended on the business of the people of the surrounding country as well. These I country folk would not come to town on I a Friday night. .. , The objective of the country as well as Upper Hutt individually was to get as much “foreign” money in as possible. By closing the shops after noon on Saturdays the council had excluded from the town the considerable Saturday afternoon and night trade it had once enjoyed. Tried and Failed. Saturday afternoon closing had been tried in Upper Hutt years ago, and was an absolute failure. Marton had recently tried it with the same result, and had reverted to the late all-day Saturday trading. The trade of people from the Wairarapa who went to Wellington on Saturdays and made purchases in Upper Hutt on the return journey had been lost. If a poll were taken of the employees in his firm, 90 per cent, would favour the Wednesday half-holiday as it gave them a chance to visit Wellington. At present they had nothing to do on Saturdays unless they were sporting people. A garage proprietor said that with Saturday all-day trading he collected an average of £2 in an afternoon doing odd jobs to farmers’ carsi They did not come now; he was lucky if he averaged ten shillings. A leading draper allowed “The Dominion” to inspect his books, which showed a decided decrease in trade on Fridays and Saturdays in the eight weeks the Saturday half-holiday has been operating. He complained that a majority of the councillors who effected the decision were resident outside of central 1 mer Hutt, and that the change-over had really been foisted on the business people by Trentham, Silverstream, and Heretaunga interests. The farmers and their employees were no longer coming to Upper Hutt to shop, nor were the back-country settlers. The trade of the men from the puolic works camps at Akatarawa and Kaitoke had also been lost. They might come in to Upper Hutt, but the shops were then closed. Bakers, butchers, and grocers who delivered their goods did not suffer, but those who had to sell over the counter were losing heavily. Another business man who, because of the nature of his lines, admitted he had not been so hard hit, said there was not the through traffic sto—’ing in the town on Saturday afternoon and evenings as before. The people could not be kept out of Wellington on the late night (Friday,)., and a good many used to get in Uimer Hutt next day what they forgot to buy at Wellington the previous night. This was no longer possible. As an instance of how the people were staying away from Upper Hutt on the new Site shopping night (Flriday), a theatre in which he was interested drew only a quarter house on a Friday night, but next evening, with the same programme, there was a capacity attendance., These people had money to spend in the shops on Saturday nights, but they were not open. None of the councillors had any business interest in the town of Upper Hutt. Another factor was that Upper Hutt people were no longer able to get into Wellington on Wednesday afternoons to transact business.