LATE DELIVERY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 14

LATE DELIVERY

COAL OAK SATURDAYS

MAGISTRATE'S DECISION

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, 2nd October,

Several coal and fifWood dealers were prosecuted in the Police Court on charges of failing^ to observe the statutory halfholiday. An inspector of factories said ■11 defendants had been detected delivering orders after 1 p.m. on Saturdays, contrary to the provisions of the Shops and Offices Act. The Act regarded a local dealer's yard as a "shop, and if deliveries were made on' Saturday afternoons, the "shop" was not considered to be xlosed. Many merchants observed the regulations, and it was not fair that others should not do likewise. ... Several of the defendants said m explanation that as many orders were received late on Saturday mornings, they were obliged to deliver after 'hours. Large firms with a number of carts and trucks could observe the law with less difficulty than the "little" man. ' The Magistrate convicted each defendant, but did not impose any penalties. He suggested that if any.dealer found it difficult to complete his deliveries before the dosing hour, he should apply for exemption under the Act.