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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7796, 16 November 1886, Page 4

The dispute about the drapers' assistants' half«holiday resolves itself into a qnes» tion as &- exigesMes, or as some might call them, the peculiarities, of trade. With certain houses the *t?iispension of business for half a day during the middle of the week means a serious loss, while with others the closing of their establishments for the half of the Satur* day implies a loss equally, and perhaps in some instances even more, serious. There is thus an irreconcilability of interests which apparently renders it impossible to fix upon one day which would suit the necessities of all engaged in the trade. In these circumstances it becomes a ques» tion whether it is wise to insist upon the observance of one day in common. At all events it seems very certain that the insisting on this is accompanied with the risk of the assistants having no half holiday at all. It would obviously, therefore, be better policy to consider whether it is at all necessary that there should be uniformity as to the day on which the desired relaxation should be given. Saturday would on many grounds be the preferable day if uniformity were essential, as on the latter portion of that day there is a cessation from labour in the generality of occupations. But, as the peculiarities of the drapery business put this consideration out of the question, it is evident that the end sought to be obtained must be reached in another way. An attempt has been made to reach it by the selection of Thursday afternoon instead ; and by admission it has failed. Uniformity in this respect being thus unattainable, why should not the object be sought by a diversity of arrangement such as the exigencies of trade may suggest? Is there any inherent reason why those who do not find it convenient to close their places of business on Thursday afternoon should not close them on Saturday afternoon instead 1 or why those who cannot close them on Saturday should not in preference close them on Thursday ? The difficulty could easily be got over by all the employers agreeing to the principle that all their assistants should be assured of having a half-holiday on some stated day of the week, and therefore agree on Thursday or Saturday, as may be dictated by their business requirements. This surely would be preferable to quarrelling over a matter which, however desirable, seems to be unattainable, namely, the fixing upon a day which would be suitable to all. To our way of thinking, too, it is very much preferable to the employing measures of coeroion, such as the inducing people to pledge themselves not to make any purchases at this time or that, which are calculated to awaken feelings of hostility in the community, and to do harm in place of good to all parties concerned.