Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATRA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1887

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 11679, 31 December 1887, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle. AND PATRA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1887

Tiat to-morrow may be the beginning ci a happy and prosperous New Year is a wish in whioh all our readers will join. It is not a vain nor an idle wish, nor one of which there is no prospect of realisation. The happiness lies h great deal in our own hands; fortunately it can be to a great extent enjoyed independently of oiroumstftnees and surroundings. Prosperity, however, cannot always be commanded, It is pro* verbially fickle and fluctuating, and often hangs upon circumstances over which we have no control— perhaps at the other end of the world. During the year that is just passing away, the prosperity wnioh we have enjoyed in this district— in connection with the rest of the colony — has been of a very subdued kind. We have sometimes thought our" selves badly off, but our prosperity has been quite equal to the average prosperity of the colony, while cases of real distress have hardly ever had to be chronicled. In one respect the New Year will commence with a gloomy outlook, inasmuch as the results of the retrenching operations of the Government will have to be faced ; but as they will tend to tho satisfactory carrying on of the Government of the country on a permanently reduced basis, temporary hardship will be submitted to as cheers fully as possible for the sake of future lasting good. Apart, however, from the operations of GovernmeLt, there is a hopeful o'utlooij, There are good, solid signs of a* revival of trade at Home; and such a revival would make itself felt throughout all the ramifications of business in the colonies, We believe that our people have learnt some useful lessons during the period of depression, and that when, another season .of.pros* perity does set in they will know how to "make bay while the sun shines." There may not be much virtue or merit in the simple . expression of a desire, but we nevertheless take pleasure in wishing every one of our readers a happy and prosperous new year; There is just a suspicion of business jealousy in the rival announcements respecting the Tuesday holiday. The Mayor, in response to the solicitation of sundry business people, asked the burgesses to observe Monday and Tuesday next as public holidays. Following up the Mayor's request, the proprietors of two or three of the leading establish" ments decided to close, and to keep themselves in countenance obtained the conßent of sundry others to the adoption of a simiftl course. Two or three other large retailers, however, " got their backs up" at this kind of thing— and determined to resist to the death the apparently insidious attempt to get in the thin end of the wedge for a second New Year holiday. Like the other side, they were soirewhat shy of the pronpeot of standing alone, and have therefore flourished out this morning with a con-< sider&ble backing in the shape of signatures. It is, we think, rather a pity that the question of a aejond holiday— which we may presume would be especially appreciated by the shop employes—should be made to hang upon trade jealousies, or upon the course to be adopted by any two or three or half a dozen who may be persuaded in their own minds jthatj theirs arethe "leading establishments." With regard to Tuesday next' the business people have a perfect right to please themselves as to whether or not they will olose their premises. The day is not a statutory holiday; neither is it a customary holiday ; and neither has anythvng of sufficient public importance been arranged for that day to warrant pressure being brought upon the shopkeepers to <jlose their premises. But granted all that, there is yet another side to the question. In our colonial towns the give-and-take principle is adopted pretty largely in respeot of what may be termed irregular and exceptional holidays. Business people who would not walk to. the opposite side o£ the rpael to see a race meeting, yet, bo as not to sejgm fro take advantage of its patrons, close their premises without a murmur on race days. Other similar instances of reciprosity between people holding different views as co the proper and legitimate occasions for holidays might be mentioned. Now we do not say that the occasion of a large picuic under the auspices of the Temperance - Brotherhood should be considered a sufficient reason for claiming a public holiday. But adding that fact to the Mayor's request, and the '• farther fact that from Saturday night to Wednesday morning would form a cons tinuous holiday .of whioh special and grateful advantage would probably be taken by employes— it would have been a graceful act on the part of those who are disposed to open for, once to have ! given way. Again, if we are not greatly mistfilrep, the general public have decided upon keeping bolday on both Monday and Tuesday, an(ji ifc may be as well to observe that shopa exist fot* the convenience of the public, and that if i'ao public do nofc want them there is no particular occasion why their proprie- | 'fora should exercise the self-denial of keeping open — unless, indeed, they have •■ ts'jjae Bpooial work in reserve for their

ie speaking without book, but it always eems to us that proprietors o£ shops I annot lose anything by closing on i lolidays, so long as all shops are closed. : rhe people will surely buy juafc as nuch in four days as in cix, if their j >pportunities of purchasing are oonfined o the four days, The volume of trade s nob diminished by the closing ; it is merely compressed into a shorter period, [t is regrettable that the business people should bave split up iuto hostile ' factions over the matter of an extra day's holiday, the more so as we are inclined to think that with a little tact and judgment the matter might have been mutually and satisfactorily arranged at the beginning. As it is, with people's "backs up," we suppose it is of little use saying any more about it. Each side will probably go its own road : but we cannot help expressing a lingering regret for those who will be kept behind the counters instead ot being allowed another day on the sea beach, in the green fieldß, or back in the bush.