NOT A MISTAKE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3185, 21 October 1942, Page 8

NOT A MISTAKE

FRIDAY NIGHT CLOSING MORRINSVILLE OPINIONS “NO INCONVENIENCE CAUSED” “ Expressing surprise at a paragraph which appeared in a recent issue of the Morrinsville star indicating that a Morrinsville farmer had mentioned “an al-most-endless stream of traffic going to Te Aroha on a recent Friday night” and that “the Morrinsville shopkeepers had made a mistake in closing at six o’clock on that night,” a prominent Morrinsville businessman has stated to a Star representative that the matter was gone into very thoroughly before a change was made. Inquiries .from his customers, especially the country ones, had been made by the businessman referred to before he had agreed to the change. He .added that for some months previous to the adoption of the new shopping hours Friday night business had*been very slack, and farmers who had been interviewed had stated that they lacked the benzine which allowed them to come into Morrinsville on Friday evenings. Consequently staffs were standing about with nothing to do and a tally taken by his firm had disclosed that over a number of Friday nights sales had barely averaged one for each member of the staff between the hours of six and nine o’clock. Matter For Fuel Controller

In view of this, he asked, why the almost-endless stream of cars going to Te Aroha simply because the shops of Morrinsville close at six o’clock? If it was a fact that so

many people had benzine to go to Te Aroha to shop it seemed to be a matter for the oil fuel controller. Numerous inquiries since the adoption of the new shopping hours on Fridays had failed to find one person who was inconvenienced by the change. ■ The businessman referred to stated that he served an increasing number of Te Aroha customers every week, customers who managed to get to Morrinsville in spite of Friday night closing. Many in conversation had stated that they came to Morrinsville because the shops here had a better range of goods than those at Te Aroha.

Throughout the many years he had been in business in Morrinsville the gentleman interviewed stated that he had endeavoured to boost the town