SUNDAY CLOSING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 307, 19 May 1941, Page 5

SUNDAY CLOSING

SHOPS AT GIIOPE BEACH \

LEAGUE TAKES MATTERS UP

At the recent meeting of the Ohope Progress and Ratepayers' League the matter of the recent action by the Whakatane Police in prohibiting the shops on the beach from Sunday trading was taken up, and as a result representations will be made in the near future to Mr A. F. Moncur. M.P., in an effort to have the restriction lifted, or if necessary to have the existing laws governing the subject repealed. The president, Mr T. P. DoAvling, stated that Ohope was not only 9 bathing place, it was a recognised health resort, to which from his own knowledge medical men werj sending their patients for recuperative purposes. This being so it was necessary to cater for this type of population by having foodstuffs available at all] times. Another feature of the Sunday trading at Ohope, was that the majority of the visitors arrived during the week-ends and were in the habit of obtaining their perishable goods at the beach. It was a decided advantage to have these facilities and also the shopkeepers relied on this trade to a large extent to enable them to carry on. During the past eight years, said Mr Dowling, the stores had been opened on Sundays AVithout any interference from the police whatsoever. The same custom existed at all other beach resorts throughout the Dominion, r.nd was recognised by the authorities as a service which was necessary to the progress and popularity of the resorts. At Ohope the sales were confined main* ly to foodstuffs, and there was no delivery of goods, the shops being served by the proprietors only. "It seems ridiculous to me/' said Mr Dowling,. "that a person may enter a store, buy a pound of butter and a loaf of bread and provided he eats it on the premises is not guilty of breaking the law. Yet if he dares to take it outside to a picnic party on the reserve nearby, hei is guilty and may be prosecuted." It had been stated that this law was a very old one. It may have been a legacy from the days of Queen Anno or from the Ptiritan era under Oliver Cromwell, and be similar to the Corn Laws and the Window Laws which existed in Great Britain at that time, but as they did not meet with public approval they Avere repealed. Why should not the law governing the closing of the shops at Ohope be repealed likewise, in view of the public inconvenience which has ensued. There were no two-up or gambling schools at Ohope, he continued; no sly-grog selling or nudist clubs. In fact all the police" coul'd find fault was a technical offence under an old and obsolete law, governing the supplying of foodstuffs on Sundays. Here lie contended was. an instance where the law need not have been cnfcrced, as was the case with the Anti-shouting Laws, which for all the action the police took for their enforcement might just as well be out of existence. The meeting was in full sympathy with the remarks and it is the intention of the League to leave no stone unturned to have the matter restored to the original basis.