CLOSED SATURDAYS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21900, 19 December 1945, Page 6

CLOSED SATURDAYS

NAPIER RETAILERS A retailers and employers’ meeting in Napier decided to observe a five-day week forthwith. Shops are to remain open from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. on Mondays to Thursdays, and on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. On a show of hands, 32 voted for a five-day week and 28 against it. . During the discussion, some criticism was expressed that dairies were allowed to remain open whatever hours they chose, thus receiving an unfair advantage over other traders. Meetings of retailers were held simultaneously at Napier and Hastings, and, to ensure unanimity being reached, a telephone link was maintained between the discussions. The scheme worked satisfactorily for a time, but it then became apparent that the towns were waiting for a lead from each other. Finally, when a stalemate appeared to be developing, Hastings decided to give Napier a lead, and a resolution was carried agreeing that shops should remain open on Saturdays until the end of the year. Apparently Napier had also become impatient and had decided to give Hastings a lead, for no sooner had Hastings taken its decision than a message from the sister town advising that retailers there had decided to close on Saturdays forthwith.