The Waikato Independent. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1907.

Waikato Independent, Volume VI, Issue 434, 7 November 1907, Page 4

The Waikato Independent. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1907.

The recent decision given against an employer in the Wellington Province, for not giving his employes a holiday on the statutory day, but on another day in lieu thereof, draws public attention to the inelasticity of the law. The employer in question gave the holiday on the same day observed by scores of others in the Dominion, and no doubt was singled out to point the moral that the law does not permit any substitution of a statutory holiday to another day, as has been popularly, but erroneously, supposed. The Act of 1904 is mandatory on this point, and the decision was in accordance with its cast iron principles. As a result of this decision, there has been a good deal of indecision on the part of business men, as to whether it would be legal to keep open on Monday, in honor of the King's Birthday, instead of Saturday. , In many places it was at first decided by the Chambers of Commerce that as Saturday would be a bad day for tradesmen to keep the holiday' it would be better to observe it on the Monday. No sooner bad this been agreed to than the Labor Department, or one of its officials, obtained the above-mentioned verdict. This, to use the vernacular, upset the holiday appleTcart. But the Wanganui Chamber of Commerce was equal to the occasion. It decided to appeal unto Caesar—the Premier—and applied to him to issue authority for factories and shops to be closed on Monday in place of Saturday. The Premier replied that the instructions desired could not be given, but no action would be taken by the Government against either factories or shops.which keep open on Saturday and close on Monday. But the Labor Department's local representative at Wanganui, in the characteristic manner of Labor officials, pooh-poohed the Prime Minister's statement that no action would be taken, and pointed out that nothing can over-ride the law, and though the Government may overlook the transgression, the unions and the Arbitration Court are bound to take action. Thus, it will be seen, the Labor Department's officer snaps his fingers at the Premier's intentions, and threatens tradespeople that, regardless of the Government, the unions, and presumably the Labor Department,' will compel business people to keep holiday on Saturday, or bring them before the Court. Unfortunately thishigh-handed threat, on the part of the injudicious Labor official, is quite in accordance with the drastic law of the land, and the Government cannot lawfully overlook any such breach as suggested by the Prime Minister. The outcome of the matter at present is that the Government has decided to close all Government offices on Monday, while in many parts of the Dominion the holiday is beiug kept on Saturday, and where it is not so kept, in other places, it will be in defiance of the law of the land. So that while business people are keeping holiday on Saturday the Government offices will be kept open, and while business people are keeping open on Monday the Government offices will;be shut! It was once said by a great English legal luminary that "the law is founded on common sense," but most people, at least in this Dominion, will agree with Dogberry that " the law is a bass."