THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1946. SATURDAY CLOSING

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 55, Issue 32667, 23 January 1946, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1946. SATURDAY CLOSING

In the matter of the holiday closing of business premises’ it has always been difficult to provide universal hours, especially for businesses and trades that cater for the supply of essential perishable goods; and so it will eventually be found in corinec-' tion with New Zealand’s 40-hour week and the movement to confine those 40 hours to a five-day business week. The argument is used that when the hours of work were reduced from 48 to, 44 there was little difficulty. That may be so ; but there has got to be a limit to everything—the drawing of the line at a sensible and practical point. If the employees do not generally realise this —and already we have had the suggestion of a 35-hour week from certain woollen workers—then those who predict conditions resembling chaos in the future, will, in our opinion, be not far from correct. When the Government brought in the 40-hour week it was fully its intention that those 40 hours should be worked in five days sb that certain classes 1 of workers could have the benefit of a long . week-end. But what is right for certain classes of workers must, surely) be right for all workers. Many an ideal, however, fails when it comes to be put' into practical application and so it is with the 40-hour, five-day week. It has been argued by many and there is justification for such that if it is good enough for all business , people, tradesmen and such like, to have a five-day week, then it should be absolutely universal. It does appear, however, that a great many people are not in favour of the hotels and picture-theatres and the restaurants and the trams, buses and all transport to be closed down on Saturdays. This would not fit in with the plan of certain sections at all. It does appear that such sections have forgotten all about the already hard-pressed housewife, not to mention the farmer. How can • these most important sections of the community continue their greatest of all services on a 40hour five-day week basis. It cannot be done and these sections should not be handicapped by the closing down bn Saturday mornings of certain essential supplies and services that should be available to them. We do know and we agree that with some trades it is quite practical to work a five-day week, but again we say that we very much douibt that it will ever be possible to provide universal hours Of work* for everybody. As we said before there should be a sensible drawing of the line and the practical and reasonable application of the 40 hours. In the cities it may be quite practical to very largely apply the fiveday working week; whereas in the country districts it is quite* a different matter.