THE WORKING WEEK

Evening Star, Issue 22276, 29 February 1936, Page 23

THE WORKING WEEK

FORTY-HOUR PRINCIPLE ARBITRATION COURT FINAL ARBITER [Per United Pkess Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, ■ February 28. “ My idea is to lay down the principle of the 40-hour week iu law and to leave its application in cadi line of business to the good sense of the Arbitration Court,” said the Minister of Labour (the Hon. H. T. Armstrong) to-day, when he was asked if the introduction of the shorter working week to the retail trade would mean the abolition of the late shopping night. Mr Armstrong said he realised that there were some lines of business where the application of the shorter week would offer more difficulties than in most, but in these cases the employers would receive the right to state their objections and to seek exemption from the Arbitration Court. To safeguard against after-hour trading by the smaller shops, especially those in which a man employed the members of his family, the Shops and Offices Act, as amended, would have to be rigidly enforced, Mr Armstrong said. There were several grievances about the hours of trading. For instance, tobacconists considered that cigarettes should not be sold outside the hours during which they kept their own shops open. Not long ago he had had representations from booksellers who complained about persons outside their trade selling papers, especially weekly papers, after booksellers’ hours. The law was being evaded to a certain extent, Mr Armstrong added, but offences were difficult to detect, for it seemed to he a British trait not to act as an informer.