Christmas Shopping

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19812, 14 December 1938, Page 16

Christmas Shopping

Sir,—The fact that strong feeling is being evidenced by the general public towards those who are responsible for the change of the late night and half holiday at Christmas needs little substantiation. A true majority of the public, employers, and employees are all asked to suffer inconvenience and loss of business to fall in with the wishes of a number of small shop*. who voted for Saturday late night. The public is asking how this farcical situation arose. A section of small shopkeepers backed, it is true, by an obsolete Shops and Offices Act, is flagrantly disregarding the wishes of the majority. Is it not an absurdity that in the deciding (?) poll the one-man shop with takings of perhaps £3O or £4O for the week should have had the same voting power as the heads of businesses whose takings run into thousands of pounds. Surely this is ridiculous enough, but add to this the fact that the number of employees and customers affected is entirely disregarded, and furthermore, a large group of tradesmen who voted for Saturday late night have since decided, and are permitted by law, to remain open both nights. This group ■was sufficient to carry the poll, Why cannot the responsible retailers raise themselves above this narrow attitude, which Is making Giaborne the laughing stock of New Zealand, and make the change-over like every other sane town before it I is too late.

COMMON SENSE,

Sir,—A point of supreme Importance appears to me to have been overlooked by your correspondents in this ridiculous controversy. It is this; What right have the shopkeep-

crs of Gisborne to dictate to the remainder of the population the days and hours on which a holiday is to be held? After all, they number, I suppose, but a hundredth part of the community, and it appears to me to be utterly absurd that they should bepermitted to do so. As has been p6inted out, on this occasion not only are they attempting to do their employees ' out of their legitimate halfholiday but by retaining sons and daughters in their shops they are upsetting family arrangements and also preventing many who, were the shops closed on Saturday at midday, would go farther afield for their holidays, but who if the shops are kept open till 10 o'clock will be obliged to stay in Gisborne.

It has become a pernicious habit this, in Gisborne, of tampering with holidays and the sooner a stop is put to the better. Surely it is for the council to decide what and when holidays are to be held; they have been elected by the populace to regulate the town's affairs. If for some reason a section of the community considers that it would 'be desirable to mak. an alteration in the date they should approach the council in due form and the council, after considering the matter from the standpoint of the community as a whole, should give a decision and that decision should be final, as with any other by-law. ORTHODOXY.