Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY JULY 23, 1903 THE WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9802, 23 July 1903, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY JULY 23, 1903 THE WEEKLY HALF-HOLIDAY.

With the experience of Napier fresh m their minds, it is hardly likely that the Uisbom© tradespeople will favor the proposal for a compulsory Saturday halfholiday contained m the Shops and Offices Bill introduced into Parliament by the Premier, and we may expect to kl-0 them at the meeting called for this evening join m the chorus of disapproval that has been raised from one end of the colony to the other against the measure. In the Hawke's Bay capital, after a a fow weeks' experience of Saturday closing, the people were only too glad to revert to the mid-weekly holiday. It was found that the dislocation of business was too great, and that considerable inconvenience was caused to everybody. We fear that tho same result would be experienced here if the Saturday half-holiday Iwcame compulsory. Saturday has become the regular market day at Gisborne, and it is the most convenient day for country people to come into town to do their shopping. Where a, custom has become firmly established it is hard to break it, and though wages might be paid on Friday and that made the "long night" for the shopkeepers, it would be many a long day before that day became so popular for people shopping. It is the public convenience that lias m the main to be studied, and whilst we fully appreciate the advantage to workers of having the rest from midday Saturday till Monday morning, and appreciate also the disadvantages of the present mid-week break m business, we are inclined to think that the weight of argument on the score of public convenience goes distinctly against the Premier's proposal. In consideration of this question it is interesting to> note what is the custom m Australia. There the half-holiday is compulsory, but the day of closing is optional with the trades. The practice is for the big shops to close on the Saturday and the smaller ones on the Wednesday. Thus Melbourne city on a Saturday afternoon is almost as quiet as on Sunday, but m the suburbs where the minor shops are situate from which the public largely draw their supplies business is brisker than on any other day m the week. On either day the half-holi-day is a hybrid sort of thing, and the New Zeajattd system of having one universal day is certainly, much better. There is, however, a custom m connection with holidays observed across Tasman Sea. which might have some bearing on the present issue. Whenever a public holiday falls on any other day of the week than Monday io is observed on the ' following Monday. Thus whilst the Prince of Wales Birthday was observed m New Zealand this year on Wednesday, June 3, it was kept up m Australia on Monday, June 8, without any disrespect being shown to the Prince or anybody being injured by the failure to adhere to strict chronology. This system suits everybody, for it gives' the shop assistant a good break m his work, and it puts the holiday on a comparatively slack day when i^ is likely to cause least dislocation of business. If the Premier is going to institute reforms m holidays, we would suggest that he should adopt this rule with regard to general public holidays. If he is insistent on having a universal weekly half-holiday, and would have it join on to the Sabbath day of resfy let him make it apply to Monday forenoon, which would perhaps answer the piirpose as well as the disturbance of Saturday would do. He would do far better, however, to let well alone . The present arrangement, leaving it optional with towns to chose their own days of closing, and having provision for a moderately early closing on Saturday evening— a humane provision with which we entirely agree — works very well, and no good reason has been shown for disturbing it.