SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 263, 4 October 1940, Page 6

SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT.

By an amendment to the Shops and Offices Act, introduced into the House of Representatives on Tuesday and referred to the Labour Bills Committee, the Government proposes to give power to the Arbitration Court to fix the opening and closing hours of all shops. There is provision for appeal to a magistrate when exemption is desired from the hours an award may determine. The effect of the clause, if it is passed, will be to prevent shopkeepers from fixing their hours by requisition. The same clause was introduced in the Statutes Amendment Bill before the House adjourned some weeks ago, and was immediately suspect, though on the face of it the wording appeared quite innocuous. Inquiries made of the Minister did not produce satisfactory replies,, and the opposition was so pronounced that the Prime Minister agreed to withdraw the clause, whereupon the Minister for Labour said it would be proposed in another form. This has now been done, but in the meantime, Mr C. A. Wilkinson, the member for Egmont, who has specially interested himself in the matter, has drawn the attention of all local authorities and other bodies concerned to the clause’s implications. It is Mr Wilkinson’s considered opinion that the amendment is intended to close shops permanently on Saturday mornings, to do away 'with the late shopping night and to make the weekly halfholiday universal on Saturdays. The matter is of interest beyond the cities and principal towns, for it is the custom of local authorities in the counties to fix the statutory half-holiday at _ the Department’s request and this is always done in the best interests of the people. To upset the systems that have worked smoothly is a serious matter —in Palmerston North on occasions hours have been well arranged to suit all the community —and it is more than surprising that the Government should deem it necessary to introduce this amendment to the Act.