0RIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 611, 17 April 1878, Page 2

ORIG INAL CO RRESPONDENCE.

[We are tint rosjiciii'silili! for tli« opinions expressed by out i: ..rrosi.Miui.Mi!.s.j • ■& TO THE KIHTOK OF TUK KYEXISO MAIL. Sm, —la reference to " Shibo's" letter that appears in your to-night's issue, I readily iiilniit that i was slightly in crroi' in saying that working men in Oaioaru have a hall-holiday on Saturday ; hut considering they leave work every day at 5 p.m., I think they have a, great advantage over shop assistants, who never leave liusiness before C, and on Saturdays it is oftentimes as late as 11 p.m. I know for a fact that if the shop assistants were to get away at 5 on Saturday, they would look upon it as a half-holiday. Xow, sir, let ns try and analyse

••Shibo's" letter a little. The next clause, where he says '" I see no just cause or impediment why the Saturday half-holiday should not be adopted here as in Dunedin," seems strongly flavored with the marriage service ; and it is as yet only a G o'clock movement that is carried out on a Saturday in that town, let me respectfully remind '"Shibo." lie then goes on to say that ho would lose half a day's pay. This is a wvy lamentable fact, if true : and then comes a most sarcastic winding up about the " multitude " of holidays that drapers, bank clerks, and others got. Anybody not understanding ihe question would naturally think by tin's that tiie shopkeepers closed whenever tile hanks did : but was it not a notorious fact only the other day—l mean St. Patrick's L>ay—that all the banks were closed, when shops were open I

Isow, let us analyse the signature of this clover letter. It is signed "Shibo." I have asked many people to-night what meaning there eau he in such a word, but they are all ignorant ; and I have ..since been taking the pains to tind out by looking at my Latin Dictionary, but am fairly puzzled, though i have a slight idea that it comes from the Hebrew, and am tirmly convinced that this letter was written by no working man, hut by some learned pedagogue, whoso daily task it is to dunn the rule o.f throe into the sometimes dull brains of little boys. I may be wroiv.', sir, but if so, 1 humbly apologi-vo to ■''Shibo," who, if he be a working man in the ordinary everyday sense of the term, I beg to assure him of my true sympathies, and further, to tell him I am always ready to do whatever lies in my limited power towards helping any oppressed class of the community ; lint, i have no sympathy, sir, with these learned pedagogues who try to throw eejd water on such a movement as this by picking holes in what another man aavs.

Apologising fox the length of my letter, f am, itc., Humanitas.

Oiuuaru, April 1G

I"\S.— f might remind "Shiho" that everyone in Oamaru is not so learned as lie tries to show himself to he. Perhaps he would be land enough to let, us ignorant ones know the true deliuiticn, of his l/rjiii dr ;i/l(»((.-. il.

' rakly closing. I 'lO THE KDIIOII OF TUB EVKXING MAIL. Sin, —Permit me to express my opinion J on what I call a step in the right direcj vion. I read with great pleasure the letters of "Sufbrer" and "Assistant Draper," and being one of thoa,e unfortunate individuals 1 can. sympathise with them. I. am pleased. Mr. Editor, to see our leading drapers in Oamaru taking stops in the right direction, for whi,-.(i they deserve great credit. The pivseut s'.ate of affairs is something discreditable to the age'. As for myself. 1 should say the same as " .-iufferei'," for uU draper's and others to combine and form an early cloiing association, is not this also a religions question I How often has the hard-worked shopboy to deliver his parcels on a Sunday morning, findin-f the doors looked before finishing his duties on Saturday uiudtt } This is bad enough ; but not all. How much does Saturday-night shopping infringe, on the Sabbath day/ or'religion, is not this Sunday Tiding ) Thanking you, Mr. E' r liii',r, Jor the interest bdcen on our buLcdi. —J am, etc, Draper's Slave.