The Factory Half Holiday.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10504, 27 November 1901, Page 2

The Factory Half Holiday.

It may 1 not be^generahy known that the Factories Act of last "session provides only for the Saturday half-holi-day, there being no provision, as in the previous statute bearing on the same Bubject, for application being made to the local authorities for permission to observe any particular afternoon that the majority of the employers may decide on. As a consequence employers in various parts of the colony are up in armß, and we notice that the preßs is* taking the matter up. There will be some little inconvenience in Wanganui, also, more especially where the business comes under both the Factories- and Shop and Shop-Assistants Act, as those employed in dressmaking, tailoring, and other trades will have to .observe Saturday, while those engaged in the shops will, as heretofore, have the halfholiday on Thursday. That Buch an arrangement will bo irksome and inconvenient to several of our business men there can bo no question, and it is difficult to conceive what need there was for interfering with the halfholiday, seeing that things were working smoothly. The only. reason we can assign for the alteration is that it- is the thin edge of the wedge towards making Saturday the statutory halfholiday in all branches of trades and professions. That such nn enactment would give greater general satisfaction than the present Thursday and Saturday combination we have no doubt, and we are equally certain that ere long legislation will move in that direction.