WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 45, 22 April 1927, Page 3

WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

> (To the Editor) Si r _As a committee representing the majority of the business firms of Waipukurau, we welcome such a letter as "that penned by Mr E. G. Dowrick and published in the "Press” recently, as offering some excuse for the agitation in favour of Saturday closing. Stripped of its non-essentials, however, the letter does not require much attention by -way of reply. Mr Dowrick airily declares that it is too ridiculous to claim that Saturday closing affects business and the prosperity of a town. In this he is opposed by the. retail talent of Hastings, Dannevirke and Palmerston Nth. (to cite the nearest progressive towns), constituting a galaxy of successful ai£tl prominent shop-keepers, against which even Waipukurau has no equal. Our critic knows, or should know, that at the last poll taken Hastings . turned down Saturday closing by three votes to one, and that Hastings has made more progress than any other town in Hawke’s Bay. He knows, or should know, that Dannevirke is so satisfied with Saturday’s volume of business (employers and employees being in full agreement) that a poll has not even. been taken on the issue. He knows, or should know, that Palmerston North tried Saturday closing and- finding it disastrous for country trade hastily and jubilantly reverted to the midweek holiday. Docs Mr Dowrick claim that, as a non-'retailer, his opinion and knowledge is more dependable than that of the big retailers of the towns mentioned? And it is obvious that if these centres of country trade suffer, so is Waipukurau adversely affected as a shopping town by Saturday closing. In point of fact it can be shown conclusively that Waipukurau is driving away a substantial volume of country trade by observing the weekend holiday and evidence is accumulating every day. Mr Dowrick has not noticed Takapau or Waipawa bursting with expansion during the last few years. Other people, however, have noticed the significant fact that Mr Dowrick’s firm, by setting up a branch business at Takapau, is not neglecting the visible signs of advancement, nor losing the chance of getting some of the country trade driven away from Waipukurau by Saturday closing. It is also noticed that at least one of Mr Dowrick’s associates in the Saturday movement - is in the same position in regard to Waipawa. Yet in neither case are these gentlemen conspicuously employing their energy and eloquence in bringing about in those towns the great universal half-holiday for which they are pleading so strenuously in and Waipawa, and he must know that Waipukurau. If Saturday closing is -good for Waipukurau it is good for rick must realise that it is the facility for Saturday trading that maintains the business connection in Takapau and Waipawa, and he mus know that both these towns are getting country trade that would otherwise flow into

Waipukurau. | Saturday is not the general holiday for all government employees, as public services such as the railways, post office, and telegraph and telephone departments, as well as various social utilities, must be maintained, even for the convenience of advocates of Saturday closing. By the same token Saturday can never be declared a universal” statutory half-holiday to enable all to join together for sport and recreation at the week-end. It is quite apparent that a section of the community must be at work at some time for the convenience of the rest, and surely it is better to have the sections evenly divided on two afternoons in a week to participate in sport, than to have ninety per cent off at the weekend and the remaining ten per cent cut out of sport altogether. Admittedly, as Mr Dowrick claims, Saturday is the only day on which the family man can enjoy an outing with. Jtis children. By'the same logic it is the only day that the family man can do. his shopping with his wife and children. And that is substantially the crux of the issue. Saturday is the ideal day for the wage-earner, the country worker and country dweller. . What tether shopping facilities are. there for the man working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or later, and some distance to travel to reach Waipukurau? Therefore, to close down, on the afternoon that the shopper has free to do his buying means shutting out business. Is the good of the community to be promoted and conserved by sport or by trade? Saturday opening does not

mean curtailment sof recreation, but it most certainly means the greater progress and prosperity of Waipukurau. —I am, etc., R. SCOTT, On behalf of Wednesday Executive.