SHOPPING HOURS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24216, 6 March 1942, Page 2

SHOPPING HOURS

Sir, —The present ' shop - closing muddle is typical of the wretched lacK. of Government , leadership m these critical days. South Australia bans racing and closes betting shops; we go cap in hand to the racing clubs to ask would they mind a reduction or 25 per cent. The Government has beon urged time and time again to curto the menace of the liquor evil m tlie community, yet nothing is done. Now to evade responsibility the onus is thrown on local, bodies to curtai shopping hours,. Could anything 0 more farcical? It has been pointed out Auckland could cut out the late pine night, Newmarket could retain it and so' on —a hotch-potch nfJJ through the country. The Auckland City Council should follow Wellington's lead and place the onus on the Government, by refusing to take aC lf ol the Sanger be real, the Government should order the closing of ail shops at 6 o'clock on late nights, without exemptions. At present a number of small businesses are exempt, milk bars, confectioners, lending libraries, tobacconists, etc., opening until 8 p.m. and later and doing a large part of their business in the evenings How will these shops be dealt with by the council? To prevent confusion and bickering—apart from the proWem of transport—the hours should be left as thev are, or earlier closing without exempS for the whole country, enforced by the Government.