SMALL SHOPKEEPERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3772, 29 June 1926, Page 9

SMALL SHOPKEEPERS.

HOUR OF CLOSING.

A meeting of small shopkeepers and other persons interested was held in the Trades Hall on Wednesday to discuss the movement to alter the hour of closing of small shops. Mr E. Rowlatt occupied the chair. The Chairman said there was a movement on foot to control the hours of the small shopkeepers. To combat the movement the Auckland Small Shopkeepers’ Association had formed itself into a New Zealand Association, and Mr A. E. Lynne, the general secretary, had come from Auckland to the south in order to link up the small shopkeepers in the different centres with the object of strengthening the opposition. All Lynne, Mr G. S. Thomson (the South Islam’ secretary), and Mr W. A. Halton (the local organiser) had just returned from a visit to Invercargill, Gore, and Milton, where their efforts to increase the membership of the association had met with considerable success.— (Applause.) Mr Halton said that there was an attempt to put a Bill through Parliament which would be against the interests of the small shopkeepers if it became law. A branch of the association had been formed in Invercargill, and an agent had been appointed in Gore. He advised all those who were carrying on business in a small way to get into the association as quickly as possible. If the proposed legislation were passed they would have to close their shops at 6 o’clock. They would find this a very serious matter —in fact, they would be ruined. If they did not act together he was sure that the Employers’ Association would have a Bill put through Parliament. There were about 11,000 small shopkeepers in New Zealand, according to the last census, and if they acted unitedly he did not think the members of the House would let the Bill go through.— (“Hear, hear.”) Mr Lynne said the New Zealand Association was registered, and that it was absolutely necessary for the protection of the small business men and business women. The large retailers in Auckland had met the shop assistants anc secretaries of unions there, and one of the retailers had stated that if it were possible to close the small suburban shops at the same hour as the large retail shops the large retailers would increase their business, and that would probably mean further concessions for the employees and increased wages, and probably, in the course of time, shorter hours. He believed this argument had been placed before the employees in other towns in New Zealand. The hook had been well baited, and had been taken by the employees. So that day they found themselves not only fighting the Employers’ Federation, but also the Shop Assistants’ Association. The result of early closing had teen felt in the North Island more than in the South Island. His association believed that the hour for the closing of small shops should be 8 o’clock, and that the fixing of the hours should be taken out of the hands of the ‘ Arbitration Court and be fixed by Act of Parliament. The speaker referred to the progress being made* to combat the early closing movement, and said he had received a telegram stating that 1000 members" had been enrolled in the association since he had left Auckland.— (Applause.) Mr Thomson referred to many aspects of the labour movement, cast aspersions on . conduct in certain union rooms, criticised the Arbitration Court, and referred at length to his activities in the present movement. He maintained that the Arbitration Court should not have the power to fix the hours of the closing of shops—that its province was to deal with the hours, wages, and general working conditions of employees. The closing hours of shops should be in the hands of members of Parliament. Most of the labour secretaries were against their association’s opposition to the 6 o’clock closing movement. The speaker said that there was something behind the employers’ desire to have a general closing of shops at the earlier hour, and that they desired ultimately to take advantage of their employees by increasing their hours, and so on. His association suggested 8 o’clock as the closing hour for the small shopkeepers, with an extension in special circumstances, and, say, certain times of the year. He was accompanying Mr Lynne to Auckland, where they would appear before the Conciliation Council on Tuesday to oppose a clause in the claims by the Grocers’ Assistants Union. This clause read as follows:—“In exercise of the powers vested in the court by Section H 9 of the Shops and Offices Act, 1021-22, it is ordered that all shops carrying on any of the businesses covered by this award shall be closed r.t the hours hereinafter specified—on fr>3? ’n each week at 5.30 p.m., on one day in each vr-fk at 0 p.m., and on Saturdays at 12 no' / 1.” If that clause were adopted, said Mr Thomson .the late hour would be cut out. He refer*fed to the donations which had been g> en to their association in Dunedin, and also to the monetary assistance expected from the manufacturing confectioners in Invercargill. Mr Lynne added that they had received several donations of one guinea—all the court asked for—from several firms in Auckland.

The petition to be presented to Parliament in opposition to G o’clock closing ms then handed round for signature.