THE WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14976, 23 April 1909, Page 5

THE WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY.

TO THE EDITOR.. Sir, —I would like to add to the huge amount of correspondence mv opinion. Retailers generally will be great- iosetSj also 1 ivory stabler and. many others in our city, if Satuiday is decided upon as the day of closing. Farmers for the past forty years have made Saturday their day for shopping and a finishing day for the week. They drive from one to twenty miles if the day is fine. Go around the city stables, and you will find that they are filled to the brim with traps laden with parcels from various tradespeople. I quote another instance. The Ivaiapoi Factory, with its multitude of young folks, teem into the city on Saturday, and carry back their purchases by the evening train. What do shop assistants care so long as they suit their own selfish ends ? I contend if Saturday is carriod, sales in the city will decrease, and country sales increase. Retrenchment will be the result. — I am, etc.., NORTH-END. TO THE EDITOR Sir.—The arguments brought, forward by the supporters of the proposal to change the weekly half-holiday, from Thursday to Saturday have been, so far, of a very ricketty character, and their latest attempt at argument must be similarly described. In their endeavour to rope in as supporters all and sundrv, the advocates of the Saturday half-holiday are alleging that those who vote for Saturday will he voting for' a universal Saturday halfholiday. This is untrue. Leaving out of the question the large number of workers who are compelled, owing to the nature of their employment—those engaged on tramways and railways, for instance —to work on Saturday. quite a large number of shops are exempted by statute from closing if Saturday be chosen. These include butchers, tobacconists, bakers, hairdressers, chemists, fishmongers, confectioners, photographers, florists, refreshment rooms, hotels and fruiterers. In addition, all the shops on the boundary of tlio combined district, can remain open on Saturday. In. view of these facts, it is the height of absurdity to assert that the selection of Saturday will ensure a “ universal ” halfholiday. It is questionable , whether a universal half-holiday, even if attainable, is desirable. The dislocation of trade and the depreciation of city property which would follow as the result of the adoption of the universal weekly half-holiday are unanswerable arguments against its adoptions—l am. etc., COMMON-SENSE.