THE WEEKLY HALFHOLIDAY.

Evening Star, Issue 12257, 26 July 1904, Page 7

THE WEEKLY HALFHOLIDAY.

THE PREMIER DECLARES FOR LOCAL OPTION.

WELLINGTON, July 26. A'deputation of shop assistants wanted on the Premier last night itt regard to the Shops and Offices Bill. Ifc was asked that the question of whether Saturday is to be the Weekly half-holiday should be cubmi tted to the electors of the four cities at the next General Election. The deputation did not desire to insist, on the payment of overtime, os provided in the Bill of last year, being content with tho present understanding. The Premier promised to introduce amendments to the Bill in the direction aiked by the deputation, by providing that the provisions of the Statute shall not apply in regard to overtime where employers give employees fourteen days holiday annually, independent of the statutory holidays, and pay the employees when ill; further, that by means of composite rolls the electors in tho three single electorates of each of the four krge centres shall vote on the question, of a Saturday half-holiday, and in other electorates the question shall bo decided by Local Option instead of by National Option, as proposed in the Bill. . [Thom Oub PAKLiAitnxfAßr Rsfobxee.] That portion of the Premier’s reply to the Wojingtrm Shop and Office Assistants which dealt with thp statutory half-holiday question is likely to prove of interest, in view of the monster meeting of assistants about to be held in Dunedin on the subject Tim local president of the Saturday Halfholiday Association explained that the deputation recognised that the conditions of work in the . country were entirely different from those in town, consequently they asked that so far as cities were concerned the should ba submitted to those on the parliamentary roll as to whether Saturday should be the half-holiday or not. Mr Scddon, in. reply, said that he was not committed to National Option, os provided by the Shops and Offices Bill, which proposal was in the nature of the compromise recommended last year by the Labor Bills Committee. However, there would have to be a poll of the composite electors of tho three single electorates of the four large centres , upon this question. Any referendum must be for the majority of votes recorded in tho three electorates of each of the four cities, and for this purpose the electorates would have to be bracketed together. He was quite prepared to allow the composite electors of the four large centres to vote in this way, and let each other electorate settle the matter for itself. The question of town versus country, winch the deputation very wisely did not wish to have raised, would not then como into play. _ If they had National Option on the subject there was no doubt but that the town v. country question would he raised. Ho had already had a clause prepared and drafted, which, ho thought, would meet the case. He proposed to amend section .21 by striking out the words ‘‘New Zealand” in tho first paragraph and inserting in lieu thereof tho words “that district.” He proposed to add to paragraph 6, section 21, the following clauses

“(6a) If the result of a poll in any district is that the half-holiday shall bo on Saturday, and so long as such result is .in force, sections 8 and 9 to 13 hereof shall be suspended in that district, and all reference in this Act to the statu lory closing day shall bo deemed to have reference to Saturday.” “ {6ro Where the district of any local authority is partly in one electoral district and partly in another, and • as a result of the poll different closing days are' observed, in such first-mentioned district thfc provisions of sections 7 and 5 to 13 shall apply to that part of the district in which some other day than Saturday is to be observed, as if that part were a separate district, or part of a combined district, us the case may

be.” ■ ‘ Ho believed that recreation oueo a week, and at a time when everybody else was taking such exercise, would remove a good deal of the strain existing at tho present time.