DRAPERS' HALF-HOLIDAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7593, 24 March 1886, Page 3

DRAPERS' HALF-HOLIDAY.

P. J. Mora.

TO THE EDITOR. Sik,After reading the report in to-day's Herald,' re meeting of employers, I think the closing of the drapers shops on Thursday afternoon does affect business, generally, besides giving the city a badappearance to strangers arriving on that day. Now, sir, is it not possible for employers to divide their assistants, so that every Saturday, at noon, half or even more of the employes can be liberated till the Monday morning, and a general closing of all drapers. and clothiers in town and suburbs at nine sharp on Saturday evenings. By this method a good spell of liberty could be obtained once a fortnight for every employ*, and a certainty of reaching home on Saturday nights at a reasonable hour, even when it is not his or her'a own Saturday half-holiday. The old cry was that the late hours on Saturday night prevented the assistants—however willing they were in spirit—from attending Divine service on Sunday mornings. Does the Thursday half-holiday cure this evil ? I think not. We all know that after a holiday a person feels more knooked up than if he had been working. So in the drapers' case. They must feel rather stiff on a Friday, and if they recover from it by Saturday morning the tired feeling must be brought on again when they are kept on their legs till ten or eleven o'clock at night, and then having to walk home afterwards. I believe,. sir, in recreation. I should like to Bed our drapers, grocers, butchers, carters, cabmen, milkmen, railway employes, tram drivers and conductors, as well as some ' others* enjoying a little more spare time for recreation, and I firmly believe in every case it could be managed to the satisfaction of both employed and employers, and at the same time without interfering with the general public's convenience to any great extent.—l am, &c., Weix-wishkb.