THE FARCE OF LABOUR DAY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 8277, 19 October 1905, Page 3

THE FARCE OF LABOUR DAY.

Great indignation was expressed on every hand at Geraldine on AVednesday, 11th inst., when farmers coming in to the local live stock sale found that it was Labour Day, and every shop in the town was closed up. It was a fine day, and practically the last good sale of the season, the result being that many farmers brought their drays, expecting to lay in a stock of things they required till after shearing, and were debarred from the purchase of even a stick of tobacco. There was some fairly strong language used all round, but nothing would tempt business people to take the risk of even a little backdoor trade. No one was sorer on the point than the business people themselves, some of whom must have lost from £50 to £60 in cash takings, there being an exceptionally large attendance of country people in town. On the following day the business people of Geraldine were sorer than ever when they heard that almost every shop in Ashburton had been opened to business on Labour Day, particularly as it was not sale day there, as it was at Geraldine. A few days before the holiday Geraldine business people made enquiries from AVellington and received a straightout answer that they must close their places of business on Labour Day, while a suggestion from Geraldine that in the exceptional circumstances the holiday might be observed there on the Thursday met with no favourable response. The Department is reported to have sent an evasive answer to AVanganui, whereas Geraldine people were given no option in the matter. The general feeling is that Labour Day holiday should be confined to the chief centres of the Colony, exempting places like Geraldine, where there are no labour organisations.