DRAPERS' EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT: THURSDAY V. SATURDAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7790, 9 November 1886, Page 3

DRAPERS' EARLY CLOSING MOVEMENT: THURSDAY V. SATURDAY.

[ADVERTIseMXNT.]

» TO THB LA DIBS 01 AUCKLAND,* : ' V* Mbsdambs,—We, the assistants employed in the various drapers' shops in and around Auckland, earnestly and respectfully solicit your aid in a matter in whioh your assist* ance will be invaluable tons. uAs you are doubtless aware, we have been, r for the past eight, months, enjoying the boon of a half, holiday on every Thursday afternoon; and as many of us, especially those employed in the suburbs, work from half-past eight In the morning until nino o'clock at night, and all of .us.much longer on Saturdays, it can be imagined how much we have enjoyed our weekly holiday. But now it is proposed to deprive us of this Thursday half-holiday, and' in its stead some of the employers do not offer as anything, while a few in Queen* street propose to close at two p.au on Saturdays and reopen at seven p.m. , This arrangement, or any other Saturday closing, we know well cannot, owing ,to the exigencies of the retail drapery trade, last any time; and we are confident that if we lose the Thursday half-holiday, by far the greater number of us will not have any ohanoe of enjoying, except on the Sabbath, those blessings of fresh air, pleasant sunshine, and beautiful country scenery, which we cannot bat believe our Creator intended us, as well as his other creatures, to enjoy. Those employ who are tiding to abolish the Thursday half-holiday, are not men who do a medium or low class trade, they are few in" number, and they are the proprietors of those establishments which profess to do a first class trade personally,, 1 they are favourable to a half-holiday, but they say, " our lady customers object to the Thursday half-holiday." That is the trouble, while persons in medium circumstances seldom complain, those to whom 41 the lines have fallen in pleasant plaoes." and who know not what it is to "work from weary chime to cbinie." grumble because, for a few brief hours of a Thursday afternoon, the shops are closed, and the wearied assistants escape from the close unhealthy atmosphere, and ge out to the country to breathe, the pare air and obtain much-needed health and spirit.' We readily admit that ladies, who forgot the half - holiday, hate been inconvenienced by coming to town and finding the shops closed ; but does any true gentlewoman consider that a sufficient reason why hundreds of her brothers and sisters should be deprived of needed rest and enjoyment? Ladies of Auckland (our sisters), it may please you to buy your bonnets, dresses, or ribbons on Thursday afternoon instead of Wednesday or Friday. If it is your pleasure to do so we are unable to pre* vent you; but there was once One who had the power to do as He wished, and yet we are told that "Even He pleased not Himself." Can you have a nobler aim than that of emulating the example of Him whose sympathy wad ever with the weak, and who oared for the social as well as the moral condition of men Our half-holiday is in your hands, the decision rests with yon. If you are willing to sacrifice your Thursday afternoon shop* ping, let your united voice be heard through the Press, or in whatever way you deem fit* test, and then we shall keep our halfholiday. If you do not wish us to retain it, you have only to remain silent in the matter. —Signed on behalf of the Auckland Drapers' Assistants, J. A. Snsddhn, Hon. Sec. :