THE HALF HOLIDAY.

Waipa Post, Volume XXI, Issue 1200, 2 February 1922, Page 5

THE HALF HOLIDAY.

srK('l.il ( MEETING OF BOROUGH

COUNCIL.

DELEGATES HEARD ON BOTH

SIDES

SATURDAY ADHERED TO

Tho wot night doubtless kept away many who would otherwise have attended tho special meeting of the Te Awamutu Borough Council on Tuesday ■evening to fix the statutory half holiday for 1922. Special seating accommodation had been made for the public. but less than a dozen, including

the spokesmen for the rival petitions, were present beside the councillors. The petitions were: (1) We, the undersigned, desire to express our entire satisfaction with the existing half holiday, and in the interest of the business and sporting community trust that the Council will favourably consider the retention of Saturday. (2) We. the undersigned business people and ratepayers in the borough of Te Awamutu. consider that in the interest and well-being of the town the half

holiday at present observed on Saturday should be cancelled, and that Wednesday in each week from 1 p.m. should be the regular half holiday, and we respectfully request that the alteration suggested above be given effect to as from the earliest possible date. Unrepresentative Petitions. The Mayor said there were two petitions before them. One, in favour of the retention of Saturday, bore 94 signatures; the other, in favour of Wednesday, bore 92 signatures. As far as the number of electors backing the petitions was concerned, not much of a lead was given the Council. There were 1000 electors on the roll, and an expression of opinion was received from only 180—a lack of interest which he deplored. At the last poll some 300 voted. Had that been the case in this instance the Council could have viewed it as some indication of the general desire. He could not regard the present petitions as such. The Mayor asked those supporting the petitions to express their views. Mr T. D. Thomas asked what number of the petitioners were ratepayers. The information was not given at the meeting. Mr S. H. West said he would like to raise one point. The matter could eventually, if found necessary, go before a poll of electors. The half day was first brought in for the good of the worker, and any attempt to include ratepayers only would be unfair to the worker. Arguments for Wednesday. Mr J. W. Boyce said he came as an advocate of Wednesday. The matter was a weightier one than appeared on the surface. They had had only 12 months to prove Saturday by—a very unfair comparison' when the depression was considered. Te Awamutu was dependent on the welfare of the country, and must consider its interests; a wave of opposition had come when Saturday was first mooted. The question of sale day was apparently settled as Saturday. What did they notice any Saturday? A town full of farmers, and nobody ready to do business with them. They either inveigled the business man into breaking the law or went elsewhere —Kihikihi, for instance —for their goods. Prior to Saturday Te Awamutu got only threefifths of the business it was entitled to, the remainder going to Hamilton and elsewhere. It now got of what it was entitled to. When the business people didn’t get the trade the worker didn’t get the work. He noticed in the Saturday petition that the words “ sporting community ” were used. He had heard it said, “ If sporting interferes with business, give up business,” and he need not say any more. Mr T. P. Clark asked if the matter could be decided on a vote. If it was left to the townspeople then Wednesday was gone, but in 'fairness the people who had property at stake should have first say. The Mayor said a poll was provided for only at every municipal .election, but the local authority had power, by resolution, to declare the half day. He had seen that in a recent 'Bill there was a proposal to permit an annual poll, but the amendment when before Parliament was apparently lost on the voices, thus indicating that the Legislature wished to discourage annual changes. Cr C. G. Downes asked whether, if the sale day was changed to Thursday, the Wednesday people would still desire the Wednesday half day. Mr Boyce said that the Thursday sale day and the Wednesday half day, with the full day on Saturday, were the ideal conditions for Te Awamutu. Mr Clark contradicted this, and said that if sale day were changed then the demand for Wednesday half day would fail. Mr Boyce explained that he had only given his bpinion as to what would constitute ideal conditions for Te Awamutu. though he agreed that if the sale day were changed the half day question would assume a different light. In Support of Saturday. Mr West said that as a canvasser of the Saturday petition he had found no real opponents of the Saturday half holiday. The only refusals to the Saturday petition were on the score that the sale day should first be changed. He had, as a working man, been unable to make a full canvass of the town. He would have liked to question some of the advocates of Wednesday who 'were not present. One of them spoke of the evil effects of Saturday, but still had increased his staff on reduced costs of commodities. These things were hard to harmonise. As it was now, some of the business people were shop and factory employers, and had to keep their premises open ali the week. This was equally unfair to employers and farmers. “All play and no work gives Jack a ragged shirt,” and “ all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” were equally true sayings. By reverting to Wednesday they would put a stopper on all sport. He did not think the town had lost any trade during the last six j months. Those who had started a cash trade had been unable to carry on the credit customers, it was true; these were ones who had gone to Kihikihi. ' There were also, it must be remembered, some shopkeepers who would keep open till Sunday evening if they were allowed. Those who now

threatened to send to Auckland for their goods had been doing it all along. Mr C. F. Battson, as a factory and shop owner, said he only wished to go for the good of the town, but the present arrangement was most awkward for him. He had to pay double time to keep open his factory on Saturday afternoons, and farmers didn’t care to pay for double time. Many of the farmers smiled on the sale day question, and said, “Weli, we’ve beat you,” and that unfortunate antagonism was the root of the matter. An employer whose business comprised shop and factory with the Wednesday half holiday was tied down all the week, as he had to be present to supervise his men on Wednesdays, even though his shop was closed. Mr Boyce said that so far as a combined factory and shop was concerned the matter was easily settled. If the master mapped out the work for the men on Wednesday he could see that ■it was done on Thursday morning. Two Clear Issues. The Mayor asked for a resolution. There were two issues before the Council— Wednesday or Saturday. Cr Downes moved that Saturday be retained as the half holiday. The signatures in the petitions did not give sufficiently decisive an expression of opinion to influence the Council to alter the holiday from the existing day. It was regrettable that a small town like Te Awamutu should have a difference with the farmers. He thought any ill-feeling was brought about by several men with time on their hands which could have been better spent. The townspeople as a whole would do anything to meet the country’s needs, but the irresponsible men he mentioned were the cause of much of the misunderstanding existing. All the Wednesday advocates had stated that if the sale day were altered to Thursday they would vote for Saturday. If business people would put before farmers the advantages of the Thursday sale they would realise them. Many farmers had admitted that they had made a mistake in voting for the Saturday sale day, which the recent meeting of farmers at Mr Wynyard’s office had shown. The opportunity had not yet gone by, and he asked the country people to recognise that the proper day for the sale was Thursday. If they would do s •> there was no argument for the Wednesday half day, and he felt that the better judgment of the farmers would survive the misrepresentation that had been going on. Many business people had stated their takings over 12 months had not varied at all, uni customers were quite ready to spread the business over the five days; and avoid the rush on Saturday mornings. In view of the small and equal numbers of the petitions he saw no reason for an alteration. The arguments brought forward for the change were not new. Cr J. Oliphant seconded the motion. The arguments advanced by Cr Downes were sound. Twelve months ago' the Council was faced with an apparently unanimous petition in favour of Saturday. If there were dissentients they took no action. It was a progressive step. Eventually the Saturday half holiday would be statutory. To-day, if the Council decided to go back to Wednesday, it would be a retrogression—one unwarranted by public opinion. Three hundred or four hundred signatures should have appeared on each petition. Thursday sale day was still open, and there was a possibility of its being taken. Saturday sale advocates had laughed after the ballot and wondered if they bad done the right thing. He failed to see that a further fifth of the town’s trade had left it under Saturday; at any rate there were no dismissals of hands.

Multiplication ot Absurdities. Cr J. G. Wynyard said the Council must face the matter as it found it. They must fix the statutory half day for the ensuing year. A poll was open to electors 'later, and the Council must therefore take no action contrary to the general wish of the electors. The only indication of that wish before them was insufficient to make the Council alter the present day. There were two absurdities —one that the shopkeepers had .their holiday on the farmers’ sale day, and the other was that the farmers had their sale day on the town’s half holiday. There was no reason why these two parties could not work for the common good. Te Awamutu was essentially a town that would be made by 'its wide country district, and it should meet the country folk in every way. lif two-fifths of the trade went past the door there was something wrong, not so much with the holiday as with the business people and their methods. Personally he was always ready to do anything to bring about a proper feeling between town and country.

Cr W. Jeffery said the position appeared to him farcical. The attitude the farmers had taken up had decreed the day on which farmers chose to come to town to do their business. If the sale day had not been on a Saturday he would agree with the Saturday half day, but in the present depression townspeople had no business to turn trade away from their doors. Bad debts might go .to Kihikihi, and many farmers had always dealt in Auckland, but he certainly thought that business was being drawn away at present. Many towns were kicking against Saturday, and the Government would find it hard To make *it a general statutory day. Until it was made so he thought it a pity that no effort was made to secure the business offering on Saturdays. The section of the town that was demanding Saturday were the employees, but in the present stress, and the approaching depression, employers would get more say than they had. The employees had had a good deal to say in the past. A rest in the middle of the week was a necessity, and there was always Sunday. He was sorry that farmers did not value the approach of a universal Saturday half holiday, but he doubted that Saturday, was in the best interest of sport. More teams might play, but they would not get so much practice. He moved that Wednesday be made the holiday. Cr C. Bygrave seconded the amendment.

On .the Mayor’s suggestion it was decided to make the amendment the motion, to avoid, if Saturday were lost, the fixing of some other day. Cr Oliphant said he would have liked to hear expressions of opinion. He regretted that one councillor was unavoidably absent.

Cr Bygrave thought Wednesday

would be the best day. For many years they had no half day at all, and when it came employees were so weary that they asked for it in the middle of the week. He thought (possibly sarcastically) they should have Wednesday and Monday always as half days. A Difficult Problem. Cr G. Spinley said that there were many things which made the position difficult. The clash of sale day was ridiculous; also that small factories were compelled to close while the shops were open. As a factory proprietor for years he 'fe'lt it most unjust to have to close his shop, as there should be, if anything, a preference to the maker of the goods as against the seller. In normal times things might ■be different, but people here had not yet felt the fall in the price of butter. If it kept at present prices everyone would be after every penny they could get. One did not see so many cars coming to town from the country since Saturday closing. The petitions were similar in number. In twelve months’ time there possibly would be a poll, and a majority of numbers would carry Saturday. It would not be worth while to change now, and another twelve months would give a better indication of the benefits of Saturday. If business men thought they were going to do good business by continuing Saturday they would have been strong for it, but the bulk of the opinion of those who bad much at stake was for Wednesday. People were gradually getting used to Saturday. Was it worth while to change to Wednesday, and then to have Saturday decided at the poll? On the other hand, business was being turned away by early closing on Saturdays. The problem was certainly difficult. Used to Saturday. The Mayor said that fifty or sixty business people had not signed either petition. Cr Clark, as an employer of labour in a factory and a shop said trade was disorganised by closing on two days a week. He must say that Saturday closing had made no appreciable difference to him, as he found the business was spread over the week. Last Friday was a wet day, yet he had received satisfactory orders from Hamilton, Te Kawa, and Te Mawhai. The people out of town were already getting out of the habit of trading on Saturday, and business was being spread over the week. If the petitions had been sufficiently numerously signed he would have voted for Wednesday, but if the vote were exercised at a poll it would only mean reverting to Saturday. To take the case of an employer with five hands, the voting would be Saturday by five to one. But it would be folly to interfere with the existing day on the evidence before them. Farmers Were Not Ignored. The Mayor said that Cr Spinley had made it evident that he wished to hear ail views before deciding. He himself had wished the people to settle the matter in their own way, but it had now to be settled by -the Council. Cr Downes said that the action of the Council was last year transmitted to the farmers in a biassed manner, and it was certainly put 'to farmers that they were overlooked and affronted, and their vote was a reply to that supposed attitude on the part of the Council. Te Awamutu was unfortunately possessed of men found elsewhere, but here more active —not men who were elected to a representative capacity in the local bodies of their town, but who interfered at every opportunity. They were disappointed men, narrow-minded men, who sought to hamper or sway the men who got on 'local bodies. He had pent up the feeling of being hampered and annoyed by them for four years. The action of the townspeople of changing from Wednesday to Saturday was no slight, nor was it intended as a slight, on the farmers. It was merely the way in which the information was conveyed ; yet it was surprising how farmers felt about it. So far no business man had replied, without the meddling of go-betweens, to the statement that the farmers had been slighted. Eighteen months before the impending change business men saw that Saturday was coming, and newspaper cuttings showed that the Chamber of Commerce and the Borough Council had anticipated, and sought to avoid, any clashing with farmers’ sale dates or convenience in general. The Council had, as it thought, ascertained the wishes of farmers, auctioneers, and townspeople, and ali were, if not in favour of Saturday, silent to the contrary after being approached. So that much was to be said for the action taken by the Council. He himself had, when the meetings were being advocated, said that the farmers must have every opportunity of stating their views. He had seen to it that the reports of these meetings were fully published, as he wished fanners to have every chance of replying to the course being proposed by the Council. Moreover, he had, by interview with the press, gone to some pains to see that his desire to hear the opinions of farmers was widely published. The movement culminated eight or nine months before a change had been decided on. The Chamber of Commerce thought it would bring matters to a head by writing to the Farmers’ Union. 'Perhaps that was not the right body to ascertain the best day to close for farmers’ interests. Could more have been done? No reply was received. Some broad-minded farmers realised that others had their rights in closing at what day and hour suited them best. He did not think a resolution involving a change would be wise at present. Thirteen months intervened before a poll could he taken, and a resolution that night would not be operative for two months, by which time the sale day might possibly be altered. He had as much at stake in the town as most, and if he thought that the continuance of Saturday was going to damage his ‘interests, would he vote for it? His business came first, and with his experience of Saturday, if it were detrimental to his business, he would not vote for it. The methods in Cambridge had been interesting, the Mayor there summing up that two groups wanted Wednesday and Saturday, but that a larger group had expressed no views, and so he would not alter Saturday. The Wednesday advocate, at that stage, had said he did not see how the Mayor could have done otherwise. Decision Favours Saturday. Cr Wynyard, addressing the deputationists, corroborated all the Mayor