THE WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2320, 4 January 1890, Page 3

THE WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

~"~\ Fbom a Fabmbe's Poxnx of Virw. . to the editor. Sir,—l Shave notioid that your pspert lately have contfttoad a largo amount of cor respoodence and otfcer matter bearlrg or the qaeßtlon of the Wednesday half-holi-day, and I mint say that I waa rather s>stonlshed to soe that it la oaanmed by the pdvocates of the movement thad the majority of tbe country settlers are Id favor of It. Now, I believe myself that the vary reverce fo the caae; and an a rouat?y resident of long otsnding, I will, with yorr permission, give my vJewa on the subject, whlcb, I re2*et, must ba in opposition to those held by our member of Parliament, the Mayor, a minister o! the Gospel, and a host cf otherß besides. I have waited till new, thljking that an ely some one'would come forward and gay a favorable word on behalf of tbe - commercial portion of the community, the employers of Aahbucton, but np to this date 1 am not airare '.hat auyono ha* done bo, On inquiry, I find that the half-holiday has not been sought for the benefit of all the employed in AshburioD, males and females, but solely for a fow who are fortunate enough to have gonteel billets, with roofs over their heeds, to keep raln,aun and dust from inconveniencing them; the Insinuations thrown out, that there ate unhealthy surroundings in any buslneis place In Ashburtoa la a yarn, fit only to be told to the Marines. Let anyone for a moment contrast the condition of shop and om>e men with that of the country workmen, following his harrows or seedsower, covered with, and Inhaling, dust all tbe day long, and he will ese how much rv -efavovabie fortune has been to the fo"ui.-.r t^an to the htter. Reapers, threshers, engine - drivara, •hovers and many others, have to start' work at 5 a.m. or earlier, and come in at night more like walking phantoms of dirt thtn lords of creation, but they are seldom beard 10 complain, they ore too plucky and loyal for that; and if in harvest time they are aometlnus ssked, evm on the seventh day, to save orops from destruction they seldom siy no, but behave as their brave forefathers did on the same day at Toulouse and Waterloo. The fhes seems to be ignored that It is through tbe hard labor of the country settler and his men, In every vicissitude of weather, that the wealth has been created within the county of Asbbnrtor, which enables the merobants to give dean and easy alt nation' to a certain class of employees at their desks and conuter3. And now, if I understand the matter aright, the whole farming community, thr back-bone of the connty, are expect-d to give way; and the re-chants aud storekeepers 'threatened wit 1! boycotting, if they do not clone their places of business duripg the best half of every Wtdue«day, In oitder to give an opportunity to a few of tbe town employees to enjoy *h cm selves at the expense of the'r employers. Taoqoettlon la one which I sh-nld say ought to be left entirely to the employer and employed, to hare settled between themselves; what right have I or any otbf r rain la the county to diotate to the emp'oye»e, or employed of Aahbarton, «s to what arrangements they should motanlly make with each other 1 It is a question with whoh tbe oountey people have nothing whatever to do. But I express m? own view.*, and those of % great many o'hors, when I say that it 1b against the inter&sfc of the settlers of this large co.tnty to have all the business pieces in Asbborton closed on Wednoad&y aflerncons; or Indeed, on the afternoon of any other eeoalir day of the week. There can, however, be no earthly season -why an employer should not give his bands aa many hoifdeya »b he and tb*y o»n agree about; but they must not turn round and tell .him to close tbe doora during the whole Afternoon, obstructing trade, and Inconveniencing country cuntoo ers, who may, end of ter do find it impossible to time themselves to weekly half-holidays In tho basy seasons, and their busy seasons come pretty often. In a new country like this, if tbe owner of a store ohouses in tits own proper person to keep his doora open every afternoon in the week for the convenience of the public, can an;oae say ho does wrong 9 On tho. contrary, Is he rob entitled to tho support of the public ; as well aa protection from boycotting or any oiher species of humbug ? It does not appear to me that any of the AshbuttOQ employers are tyrants, aud I will aay of any of the employees with whom 1 have had anything to do, tbat they are gentlemen in th beat sense of the word, and can scarcely feel proud of the style In which come of their townsmen have endeavored to advocate their cause. I don't think tbat tbe farmers of tbe eonnty of Aahbnrton should be expected to Interfere In a movement prejudicial to their own Interests, and that ot the business people of the town. The two sections of tbe oommuolty are mutually dependant upon each other. When we gs t hard up we go to tbe merchant for money to ilde Gs over, and as a rule we always get it. When we require stores of any description we go to the storekeeper, and we get what we waut, either for money or without'it till we can pay. I believe tbe oredlt given by ibe business men of Ashbutton is equal to that given in any O'her town of the same size In the oolonlf b; ' and the prices given for grain last seauon spoak well for the we»Hb, pluck, and liberality of its merobants. ~ If every farmer did not sell his grain weP, and to his advantage, It was his own fault. Then let ua consider the advantage we hava In having each a good wool market established at our very deors. lam well acquainted with weols, and I will say without fear of contradiction that better prices have been got in Ashburton this season than could have been got for tbe same description and quality of wool in •Dy ether part of Now Zealand, and the t3 Ohriatohorch Bayed to tbe grower besides. In conclusion I wculd like ta aay a few words more in justlae to the Ashburton merchants, whom one of your correspondent! would like to parallel in Iniquity with tbe olt z?ns of rodent Coriath Some years ago while I was managing the Westerfhld station 1 sent to Ohrlstchareh for a list of prices of shearing requisites, believing from one report and another that I could s&ve money for my prinoipfti by gettlDg goods from there, but after trying Ashburton I found I was mUtakeu. I got the required number of wool packs either from Mr Thomas or Frledlander Broe, I forget jaat now which, at twopence per pack cheaper than I could get the same dlscrlpilon of psoKs In Ohrlatoburch, and carriage saved besides. The several kinds of provlolons required I got from Mr John Orr, some at and some under Ohriatohorch prices, wUh catrlage saved same as on wool packs. On another occasion I bought of Scaly Bros over six hundred pounds worth ot grass seed for the station, simply beesuse their terms were more reasonable than those of •the Chrlstohurch merchants, and tbelr 1 goeds of a more Bssored good quality. So my experience would go to prove that wb might go a long way farther than Ashburton to do busings aod fare a good deal' worse.—l am eta., m , r D: Oiivbr, Chelmsford, January Ist, 1890.