SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12208, 28 April 1909, Page 5

SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

To the Editor

Sir, —As there has been a great amount of correspondence lately for and against Saturday as the half-holiday, I would like to place a few 'facts before the public in favour of the Saturday. All those who have followed the halfholiday question for the last few years will remember that when a compulsory half-holiday in. the week was first spoken of it was considered by many that it was interfering with the liberty of the suoject. After a lot of agitation (and expense) the object aimed at was secured, and instead of doing harm to the tradespeople it resulted in great benefit to all concerned. Up to this time Saturday was the half-holiday for factories and wholesale houses only. Sometime after securing the weekly half-holiday, an agitation was started in Dunedin in favour of a universal Saturday half-holiday, which was successful, after a big fight. What was the result? Friday was proclaimed the late'night for business, and also made pay day for the working men. The Saturday half-holiday worked aamirably, and form personal experience was a financial- success for eleven months in the largest retail grocery business in Dunedin', which business would have been the first to suffer if a mid-week half-holiday had been the most suitable to the public. Friday became the popular night for late business, and Saturday until one o'clock was a busy day instead of the assist- | ants having to fill in time waiting for I the evening's business. Your paper holds Nelson up as a sample of the failure of the Saturday half-holiday, and quotes the experience of a few of " the smaller business 'people, who from the start of the innovation, tried to kill the Saturday movement, and stick to the old idea of a late Saturday night, but I venture to say that if you publish the opinion of the average Nelson retail "business man results will be found totally different. Now take the matter from the position of a man who has a retail business, and also a factory, what is the result? He must close his retail business on Wednesday or Thursday as the case may be, and also close his factory on Saturday, which means that he must be at business the whole week from Monday morning until Saturday night. Why Hot close both places on Saturday?, Oft©, of/your- ,eQrresp6iidehts makes the statement that the working man has to lose time to do his shopping if the shops close on Saturday afternoon, but what about the hundreds of shop assistants ? They cannot get away from business except on the midweek half-holiday, • and consequently cannot dp any shopping at all, but they appear to manage somehow, and why not the working 'man who does not happen to work in a retail shop? Then we have the bogey or threat that if Saturday becomes the universal halfholiday, a number of assistants wjM -not be required, which is only twaddle, as it stands to reason that if a person requires a loaf of bread, a peund of tea or a pair of socks, that person is not going to do without the article because the shops are closed on a certain halfday, but will buy when the shops are open even although they only opened one (day) pay per week. From a religious point of view I notice: that some of the ministers of the Gospel oppose the Saturday half-holiday, for what reason I cannot imagine. If shop assistants are kept on duty' until nine or ten o'clock on Saturday night, it must follow that they do not feel inclined to fill in their day of rest in church, or^feel in a devotional mood, on Sunday morning. I could put forward a great many more reasons why Saturday .should be the half-holiday, but must respect the strain on your valuable space and close with "Vote for Saturday."—l am etc., SATURDAY.