BANK HOLIDAYS.

Feilding Star, Volume XXII, Issue 164, 14 January 1901, Page 2

BANK HOLIDAYS.

v our ]asfc issue we published an xtract from the proceedings of the inference of Associated Chambers of. lommerce on the burning question of ank holidays. Commenting on the passed which condemned le " giddiness of the financial temerament" the Lyttelton Times coniders that " now we have taken the anks under a comfortable legislative ing as regards . their hours ancl cerlin of their processes, it does seem as I their holidays might voluntarily be rought more into line with those iling among the general public. The astom of observing the anniversaries [ a heterogeneous of saints lay be useful as educating tfoe bankig staffs to a proper comprehension E the scope of the canonical calendar, it it is a relic of the reign of the lurch temporal here upon earth, hich, while possessing much of the jsolete conservatism attaching in iany other respects to the profession, ould be now better honoured in the •each than in the observance. It is at so nmch the number of holidays tat is objected to, as the arbitrary disof the banks to make them rinei^ttfc with public holidays, and, as natural sequence, with jmbJic con-

venience. The complaint really deserves the honest consideration of bank directors, for it is one which comes from both the wholesale and the retail traders of the community." This is all very true no doubt, but there is another side to the question. The employees of " wholesale and retail dealers " have the benefit of a weekly half -holiday, which means twenty-six days in the year, and therefore far more than those received by employees in banks.