The Star. FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18466, 18 May 1928, Page 8

The Star. FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1928. NOTES OF THE DAY.

Th energy', patriotism, and enthusiasm count for anything, abundant success should be the lot of Empire Shopping Week. The promoters have spared neither time nor trouble in their efforts to encourage shopkeepers to display for sale Empire goods in as attractive a fashion as window space will permit, and the result can be seen to-day. It is an open question whether the streets of Christchurch have ever presented a more interesting and instructive sight. With the aid of striking posters the lesson that the Empire is an economic unit has/been well pressed home, and the rest lies with the consumers. Few can now fail to realise that the more New Zealanders, Australians,* South Africans, and Canadians buy of goods made in the United Kingdom, the more money the people of the United Kingdom will have with which to purchase Dominion produce. If part of the Empire is prosperous, the resul t is quickly reflected elsewhere in increased trade. And whatever street corner orators may say, it is increased trade and increased trade only that will stop unemployment and set the wheels of industry running smoothly. For that reason alone, Empire Shopping Week calls for the loyal support of every citizen

/"'\NCE AGAIN the public interest is being disregarded in the matter of shop hours, this time in the case of chemists’ shops. By a Gazette notice every chemist’s shop within two and a half miles of Cathedral Square will be closed on Sundays, and an effort will be made to concentrate all the business on an all-night dispensary. The Gazette notice means the closing of every chemist’s shop in city and suburbs except, we think, one shop at Papanui and shops at Brighton and Sumner. This movement has been brought aboift largely by pharmacies situated in the heart of the city, and is generally opposed by suburban chemists, who do a roaring trade on Sundays in doctors’ prescriptions, their most profitable form of business. This fact should show' the authorities how important it is that people living a mile or two from the city, especially on a Sunday, when transport is difficult, should have a local pharmacy at which they could have prescriptions made up, instead of having to travel miles into the city. Moreover, the exempted dispensary will attend only to doctors’ prescriptions and will stock few, if any, of the simple remedies that some people depend upon without reference to a doctor. The new regulations will prove very inconvenient to old people and poor people. Communities like Cashmere, Opawa, *Woolston, Biccarton, Linwood and St Albans will find themselves greatly inconvenienced in an emergency. No doubt the, chemists themselves may regard this closing regulation as a relief from work on a day of rest, but in such a business they have a duty to the public, and we do not think that they have recognised this fact in the action they have taken in closing all suburban shops. Gradually the interests of the public arc being w'hittled away in regard to early closing and in other absurdities, such as restrictions on the sale of tobacco, flowers, and things of that nature, but a halt will have to be called soon, and we think it might have been done in the case of chemists’ shops.

f I ''IlE National Industrial conference proceeded far enough in its agreements in regard to unemployment, immigration and compulsory insurance to inspire the hope that its deliberations in regard to that other and more important question, the amendment of the Arbitration Act, would result in as amicable an agreement. But it appears that the conference is hopelessly divided in regard to the amendment of tlie Act, and nothing further can be done than to leave the,matter to Parliament in the rather forlorn hope that it will find a way out of a difficulty that has proved insurmountable to the experts. It was hardly to be expected that unanimity w’ould be arrived at in regard to the arbitration system when one very large section of the workers themselves was quite indifferent to the possible benefits of the Act, and preferred direct bargaining with the right to strike in preference to compulsory arbitration. But this section of labour has been overborne by the representatives of unions that have fought for the retention of the compulsory system on behalf of weaker groups of w’orkers, and Labour, which has frequently scorned the arbitration system, and the decisions of the Court, has found that it is not easy to substitute something that will be equally effective in protecting the interests of groups of workers, especially in the weaker groups. The employers, like the workers, include a large section (of primary producers), who have so far kept outside the scope of compulsory arbitration, but they have never denied the value of the Act in dealing with certain classes of workers. Their compromise of optional arbitration has been rejected by the workers’ representatives, and that appears to be the end of the conference. Its deliberations, however, must not be regarded as valueless. It has done much useful work, apart from its main object, and it will certainly provide Parliament with information that would not otherwise be available as to the attitude of the various groups involyed in the discussions.