BANKING HOURS—AND A QUESTION FOR MR MACHIN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18684, 13 February 1929, Page 9

BANKING HOURS—AND A QUESTION FOR MR MACHIN.

To the Editor. Dear Sir,—l notice you have lately interested yourself in bank holidays and in a sub-leader to a letter by “Bank Clerk” you appear to have given (unintentionally) the proverbial nail a smack on the head when you state some members of your mechanical staff receive three times their ordinary rates of pay to enable your paper to fulfil a public service. The banks in New Zealand do not pay overtime and not even tea money. It is true one bank gives 5s extra each balance time, but the staff are back five nights a week for at least a month. At Easter, Christmas and New Year all the bank’s officers work many hours after the doors are closed to the public —sometimes until after midnight—and do not receive three times their ordinary salary for doing so—in fact rarely thanks. While these conditions rule can you wonder that the bank clerks will not give up what small privileges they appear to have without a fight, and I am afraid Mr Machin’s informant was not a member of the Guild if he told him otherwise. Further, Mr Editor, if you compare bank holidays with those of the firm controlled by the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce you will find the banks have fewer.

In conclusion, I think the Chamber of Commerce has put up a poor case for their proposals. Their main argument is that at busy times the banks should be open for a few shops to deposit their cash, but each day the same firms have two and a half hours’ takings to keep, so why make a song about a bit extra? In no part of the world do banks open at night, although in some countries safe deposit companies are open for the position raised by the Chamber of Commerce. Exactly what does Mr Machin mean when he says that the l>anks’ holding of documents upsets business, as this appears to me to be pure moonshine. Mr Machin must know that the obtaining of documents accompanying bills of exchange depends on the firms and not the banks.— I am, etc., BILLS.