THE SHOP CLOSING ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9721, 17 January 1895, Page 4

THE SHOP CLOSING ACT.

Mr. It. French is in favour of Wednesday being fixed as. the half-holiday, and therefore he contends that the Municipal Conference should decide on the day, thinking that if the decision is left to the Government, Saturday will certainly be proclaimed as the day to be observed. If Wednesday is agreed upon, some shops will still shut on Saturday afternoon, and we shall have two muddled business days in each week. Then, if Wednesday is selected, a shopkeeper may give notice to the inspector that he has decided to close on Saturday instead, and misunderstanding will arise out of this. Then, the " exempted" shops will certainly extend their business, and will sell articles which at present can be had only in the shops which after the decision will be kept closed by the inspector. Again, the shops which may keep open because they do not employ any assistants, and where the owner resides, or professes to reside, on the premises, will take all the business. We know one man who says he is so disgusted with the pusillanimity of the shopkeepers in submitting to this Act, which is unjust in every respect, that he will only do business with shops which are open at times prohibited to the majority. It is a strange thing that this Act, which is supposed to be for the benefit of shop assistants, should actually place a premium upon a man discharging his assistants, for that, no doubt, some shopkeepers will be driven to do. ' As for the conference taking action, the Act contemplates that they may decline to do so, as it is provided that if they do not proclaim a day, the Government may do so by Order-in-Council. The councillors were not elected to take charge of the closing of shops, and we object to the invidious duty being thrust 7 upon them. Mr. French says that the tendency is to put more work on municipal councils, and refers to the management of tram services and gas supply. These are very different things, being matters of business in which the councils secure a monopoly. But he cannot show a case in which Parliament shirked the responsibility of carryingout an Act which it had passed, and threw an odious task upon a municipality. The Closing Act is Mr. Reeves's, not the Auckland City Council's. Mr. Reeves has passed it as part of that policy of State Socialism of which he is proud to be an advocate, and we object to his dragging in the Auckland City Council to take the odium on their shoulders. We are quite sure that Mr. Hannan does not stand in a singular position. If the decision is in favour of Saturday, then those who want Wednesday will try at next election to oust those who voted for Saturday, whatever may be their qualifications as councillors, with the view of changing the day next year. The Act is a mass of crude inconsistencies, and in whatever way it is worked will result in injuring many shopkeepers, who have hitherto managed to keep out of the Bankruptcy Court.