THE HALF-HOLIDAY ACT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9565, 22 October 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE HALF-HOLIDAY ACT.

TO THE EDITOH.

Sin, —In your sub-leader of the 19o!i itist. you have been somewhat hasty in concluding that it is only shop assistants who are favouring the Saturday half-holiday, and that several of the leading drapers are prepared to fall in with the visws of their assistants, and that in fact it is a case of the tail wagging the clog, and not the dog wagging the tail.

In this view I can safely say that you are entirely wrong, and that those firms are doing so because the Saturday is the most suitable day. I believe, and it is freely stated, that many of those who have signed the petition— which was mainly got up by one firm—had little thought that they were pledging themselves to auy day, as many of them are perfectly willing to close on Saturday. The action of the George street employers is in itself a condemnation of your article. You state that the Saturday afternoon trade in the majority of the George street shops is equal to that of any other two days of the week. I can scarcely

believe this. The great majority find that the Saturday trade is not what it used to bo. In a few instances it may be so, but no better proof to the contrary would be found than on quietly walking down George street any Saturday afternoon. Had you watched tho Saturday trade as 1 have done for the last 10 years I scarcely think you would have lent your pen to such a sweeping assertion. You say that with respect to grocers it is the height of absurdity to ask them to close on Saturday. Wherein so ? Customers can order their goods on Friday night to be delivered on Saturday morning instead of near Sunday morning. The same rule applies to drapery, crockery, fee, the goods not being perishable.

I civunot understand your article, neither have I dropped across anyone who could. You have every sympathy, you say, with the shop assistants, aud yet in almost the next sentence you accuse him of selfishness and coercion. You do not really seem to grasp the situation. You forget thsfc it is the employers who are actively engaged in the holiday question, and that many of them wish the Saturday halfholiday aud to make Friday the late shopping night, an arrangement that would be far more Christian than the present pernicious system. With regard to the 9 o'clock movement, I can assure you the assistants regard 10 o'clock as preferable. Wheu 10 o'clock comes they are prepared to go straight home, whereas were it 9 they would seek an hour's amusement which might lead to bad results in many cases. In conclusion, Sir, I consider you have written your sub-leader in a hasty spirit and without that true knowledge which usually characterises your writings as a leader of public opinion.— I am, &c, Shop Assistant. George street, October 20.

TO THE EDITOR,

Sir,—l am sorry to have to take objection to any parb of your otherwise very acceptable leaderette of Wednesday morning last, in which you mildly charged the Shop Assistants' Union with agitating for a Saturday halfholiday. ■ Row, Sir, as a matter of fact this is not ths case. The Shop Assistants' Union have steadily sought to obtain a legalised weekly half-holiday, leaving the selection of the day altogether for employers to decide. The interest of employers and the public convenience have never been overlooked by the Shop Assistants' Union. I beg to thank the press for their kindly help in the endeavour to bring about this reasonable aud desired reform. —I am, &c, Dunedin, October 21. James Todd.