CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7545, 28 January 1896, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE SHOPS ACT.

fTo thb Editor of the Herald.] Sir, — Will you kindly inform me :— (1.) If ifc is compulsory for every shopkeeper in this town to" close on one afternoon during the week? (2.) Who is the Inspector in this town to see the law obaerved 1 (3.) IS (seeing that over twenty shops were open on Thursday evening last) any informations have been laid up to the present? (4.) If not, why not? Another thing I want to kuow is, are shopkeepers allowed to sell their wares on Sunday ? as I know of seven shops who will and do sell on Sunday evenings. lam quite aware that the police tried to secure a conviction some time back, but that is no roason why the offence should be allowed to continue. One shopkeeper here informed me that he always had sold on Sunday nights, and always would, law or mo law. Now, under ordinary circumstances I am put down as a peaceful and law : abiding citizen ; but, Mr Editor, there is one thing you can bet your bottom dollar about, and that is if I close they will close, if they open I open. ' One Who Closes. , [It is compulsory for every shopkeeper to close on one day in each week from one o'clock in the afternoon. Thursday has been appointed as the statutory day for closing at one .o'clock by the Borough Council, and unless a shopkeeper claims to take advantage of section 5 of the Shops and Shop Assistants' Act, 1595, he must close on Thursday at one o'clock. The section is as follows : — " With reßpect to any shop the business whereof is honajide owned and conducted by any person of New Zealand or European extraction, whether solely or with the assistance of members of such person's family below the age of eighteen years who reside on the premises, the following special provisions shall apply : (a) Such person shall be entitled to close his or her shop on another specified day in each week other than the day appointed for the closing of shops in the district on giving notice in writing to the Inspector of the district of his or her desire to do so. (b) Such notice shall be lodged with the luspector during the month of January in each year, and shall be taken as proof of the facts therein stated : Provided that if such person commences business 'after January, such notice shall be lodged as aforesaid at any time within one month after he or she first commences business in such shop." This means that shopkeepers of European or New Zealand extraction who conduct their businesses without other assistance than that rendered by members of the family under eighteen years of age, have the option of choosing some other day for closing than that appointed by the Borough Council, provided they give written notice to the Inspector in January. If they neglect to do this they will bo in the same position as all the other shopkeepers, and will have to close on Thursday afternoons. Sergeant - Major Mooro is, we believe, Inspector under the Act. Selling gooda on Sunday is an offence agaiDSt the 16th section of the Police Offences Act, 1884, and is punishable by a

fine of £1. Chemists and milkmen are, however, exempt from the provisions of the section. — Editor, Herald.]