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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 16638, 12 January 1920, Page 2

On Monday next the Borough Council will hold a statutory special meeting for the purpose of determining on what clay the weekly half-holiday shall be held during the ensuing year. Recently there was a mild agitation in favour of Saturday being selected, but nothing has been heard of it lately. The position, we believe, is that all the borough as far as Hawei-a, with the exception of Eltham, are favourably inclined to Saturday provided that the whole district falls into line. We cannot imagine that Eltham would stand out if all the other towns agreed. It would put the matter to a test if New Plymouth, as the principal borough, were to approach the other authorities with a definite proposal to adopt Saturday if the others would do so. The arguments In favour of Saturday are so strong and obvious that they need not he repeated here. The only difficulty is to secure uniformity. If all closed on Saturday no single'town could derive any advantage, and it would make no difference to the farmer whether he did his shopping on Friday or Saturday. It is just a matter of habit with him, and he would quickly accommodate - himself to the change. Trie Government has been urged to legislate for a compulsory universal Saturday half-holiday, but Ministers seem to think that public opinion is not ripe for the change. In our opinion public opinion is waiting for a'lead. The objections are mostly selfish. The time is very short now, and if anything is to bo done it - must be done at once. Will New Plymouth lead the way?