THE HALF HOLIDAY.

Southland Times, Issue 18620, 19 August 1919, Page 4

THE HALF HOLIDAY.

It was not to be expected that anything would result from the discussion by the Borough Council of Councillor Freddy’s motion for the taking of a poll in order to submit the half holiday question to the ratepayers. It has never been possible to get any real unanimity on this question. The advocates of the Saturday half holiday are able to to produce strong arguments in favour of their contention, but they can make no impression on the considerable body of business men who look upon the Saturday market day as a sheet anchor to which they must cling at all costs. They are convinced that if their shops were closed on Saturday afternoons a considerable portion of the trade they now do with country people will be lost to them. They hold that country folk will not come to town on any other day than Saturday since they cannot afford to interrupt the work of the farm during the week, and will do their marketing nearer home and limit their visits to the city to the infrequent occasions on which all country people take a holiday. Those who would like to see a universal Saturday half holiday combat this argument by evidence from other places whose relation to the country is not dissimilar to that of Invercargill. They can show that- shopkeepers in places where Saturday is observed as the day of the half holiday have no desire to revert to the Wednesday or Thursday, and they can also point to the experience of Christchurch, where shopkeepers fought tooth nail against the introduction of the Saturday holiday but have changed their views as the result of actual experience. It was found in Christchurch after the change was made to Saturday that there was a noticeable falling away in business, not very great perhaps, but sufficient to strengthen the belief that no day could take the place of Saturday as the people’s market day. However, when' the new conditions had been in operation for a few months and people had become used to them and had readjusted their habits accordingly, the shopkeepers were able to report that business had regained its former level and they were prepared to admit that they were losing nothing by closing their shops on Saturday afternoons. In our opinion the argument is strongly in favour of the holiday at the end of the week. We do not think business would suffer from it, and we are certain that it would be of immense benefit to the people in whose interests a weekly half holiday has been made compulsory. We realise, however, that no argument can shake the convictions of a large number of retailers that the Saturday half holiday will seriously affect their businesses, and while they remain of this opinion it cannot be expected that the Borough Council will give a lead in favour of altering the present practice. If reform is to be brought about it will be as the result of a general movement among the people, and we believe that the feeling in favour of the holiday at the week-end will gradually reduce the opposition until it finally disappears.