WHICH DAY? SATURDAY OF WEDNESDAY?

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 91, 19 April 1911, Page 3

WHICH DAY? SATURDAY OF WEDNESDAY?

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENTS. FOR ELECTORS' GUIDANCE. Wellington people have no excuse for not knowing that £6th April the battle of Wednesday with Saturday for the statutory half-holiday will bo fought at the polbi "Both sidss are briskly organising to march or carry the voters to the ballot-box. The army that wins ¦will have the fruits of victory for at leas: tvo years. The decision has to stand till it is upset by another poll, or petition, and such a poll cannot be taken till April. 1913. under the present law. It is well, therefore, for the people to pause and ponder before thoy cast their votes. The controversy so far has confused the issue, and has filled ihs air with bewildering assertions and coni-rndiefcions. Hence, to enable- the people to have a clear idea of th© case which they are asked to judge, The Post has given an opportunity to both parties to offer all possible argument, m plain, concise terms. SATURDAY SPOKESMEN. j Members of the Trades and Labour Council are the principal advocates of the Saturday regime. They say that Saturday is the natural holiday. The trend of trade and commerce is to make the working week compact, with a sufficient week-end to enable workers, and employers to take rest and recreation to fit thenl for the following week's duties. 'The system makes for economy in running costs,' in addition to the 'benefit to employer and employed alike, from the human viewpoint. This benefit is rjleaded specially on behalf of women ana! girls — a very large number in Wellington's thousand shops. From the national aspect, it is urged that future mothers of New Zealandere should have an opportunity to have enough rest at the end of the week, to rally from the stress and strain of toil in the shops, especially as this rest and recreation, while safeguarding their iiealth, necessarily improves the quality of their work. The plea is that Saturday, as tho better day to fit in with the country's bnsiness, is also the better day t for the cotmiry's health. A Saturday half-holiday -would make for a better. Wellington, and, therefore, valuably oielp in making a better New Zealand. THE VOLUME OF TRADE. '¦ Saturday's friends deny that the clos- : ing of shops at 1 p.m. on Saturday will j injure small shopkeepers. They claim that the effect will be to put the trad- j ing on a fairer basis all round, so that ! neither the central nor the outlying shopkeeper will get an undue advantage over the other. They point to the acquiescence of Melbourne and Sydney in th» Saturday closing, although the innovation had been once bitterly opposed. Any trouble involved by the rearrangement soon passed away, say the Saturday advocates. THE GRAND PARADE. "A few -workers yeith. fancy vests may like to do the town in the limelight on Saturday nights/ said one Trades Councillor, "but Friday night will be iust as good for that display. Th* parade argument should not prevail against the humanitarian argument. Is it fair to spoil the week-end for many men an 3 women, so that others may enjoy a pleasure stroll in crowded streets on Saturday night? The argument of the 'greater good for the greater number' cannot be used in this oase. Ifc is rather a case of doing evil from which no real good comes, because, the strolling will be possible with a late Friday night." PAY DAY. With a late Friday night instead of Saturday pay day will assuredly be shifted from Friday to Thursday, declare the Saturday enthusiasts. As trade, principally depends on the spending power of the workera the- business people will take good care to give* the workers every inducement to spend. They ridicule the- argument that workers will not have the same facilities for marketing on. Friday as on Saturday. RECREATION GROUNDS. Answering the argument that Wellington's recreation grounds will be far too small for requirements under the general Saturday scheme, the Trades Councillors say that this plea is much exagSerated. Moreover, the argument is not ogical. It means that because certain persons who prefer their recreation in certain games on specially r prepared grounds must always get preferential treatment over those who can take their enjoyment on the walks of the Botanical Gardens or Newtown Park, the Town. Belt, -'tire seaside, or the roads that curve among the hills that command the clear ocean and the harbour. It is also submitted that a want creates a supply. More recreation spaces will be furnished if the need is strong. It will be better to hav£ the matter brought to an issue now, so that the work can be carefxdly, gradually undertaken than to have it forced on by-and-bye if Parliament decrees a universal Saturday half-holi-day. Finally, it is mentioned that Wellington has an opportunity to pave the .way for a general Saturday half-holiday. Ct is claimed that a Saturday example Trom Wellington will give a valuableJead to other 'parts of New Zealand. AGAINST SATURDAY. The latest official figures show that there are 1538 shops in the city of Wellington and the persons actually engaged in the premises number 4065, consisting of 1657 males and 781 female employees, and 1429 and 202 female employers. The number of employers who work in shops, ift will be seen, is not far behind that of assistants, pure and simple. In other words, there are almost as many shopkeepers working in their own premises and making a living its there are assistants. That, amongst other things, is one of the strongest reasons why the small shopkeepers object to a Saturday half-holiday. They point out that the number of assistants — other than employers engaged in their own shops — is only 1.66 per cent, per shop. And they make a- strong point of the fact that the great majority of the assistants are employed in a few of the large retail houses doing what is usually termed "a first-class trade" and already observing the holiday on Saturday. FREEDOM OF CHOICE. Further, the opponents of Saturday closing argue that under existing eondi- . 4 ions it is optional for a shopkeeper to dose on Wednesday oi Saturday, or any other day he pleases. This was specially emphasised by Mr. H. H- Seaton, ex-president of th© Shopkeepers' Association, and a member of the present executive. Mr. Seaton has always taken a keen interest in the question that is to be the subject of a poll on the 26th inst., and he is 10-day as stfoag an opponent as ever of the Satuvr-j-ij- closing movement. "If yon are ri«iflg a^trada with the working man, 1 ' h* %3Jd, "it is absolutely necessary to keep open on Saturday night."

The working man would not come into town on the late night of the week with his wife to do his shopping knowing that ho had to be off to toil next day. It was all very well to quote Sydney, but the fact that there are over 20 "exempted trades" in Sydney — tobacconists, butchers, fruiterers, and the like — was entirely overlooked. Any change would, no doubt, benefit the big shopkeepers. The smaller establishments did a considerable trade with suburban peopla from Plimmerbon, Johnscnville. Upper Hutb, and other places on Saturday night. Saturday was the only day on- which the train services admitted of this being done, and Saturday was the only da> which suited the shoppers. \ DEAD AGAINST A CHANGE. ! The great majority of the smaller shopkeepers, Mr. Seaton said, are dead against any change, and he declared that it was by no means a fact that the majority cf the attendants were asking for a change. This last statement is concurred in by Mr. F. Cohen, who has been in business in Wellington for the last twenty-?even years. Mr. Cohen informed a Post reporter that the small shopkeepers do more business on Saturdaj' night than on the other five days put togetnei. Tf any shopkeeper wished to close on Saturday he could do so. IN A NUTSHELL. Our representative found on enquiry at various premises, which could be classed as small shops, that the freedom of action referred to by Messrs. Seaton and Cohen is their trump card. After all, they say, in justice the greatest good for the greatest number should be ihe deciding factor. Are the desires of nay, 500 shop-assistants — making allowance for those who alreadj r get the Saturday halfholiday and those who are content to let things Temain as at present — to override the convenience of over 100,000 people, and interfere with an order of things which has obtained in Wellington from I its infancy ? Is the working man (and his wife and family, too, for that matter) not, entitled to some consideration.? Is the struggling shopkeeper to b<?. driven opt of business at the caprice of an in- | significant minority? These and other questions -of -a similar kind were put to our representative by the opponents of the Saturday movement. The electors who are not directly inter- ! ested in the issue -will have ample time j to make up their minds before the taking of the" poll next Wednesday. x Mr. Cohen, it should be added, emphasised the fact that tho Saturday halfi holidays had been tried in Auckland and Dunedin, and it had been a failure. "If it was universal/ he said, "compulsory, just as 6 o'clock closing is. it would not be so bad.' 1 In the ca»d of "Newcastle and Sydney, he said that one result of the Saturday half-holiday had been that ittany people -who had been in business for years nad to close up.