SHOP HOURS.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16414, 7 January 1919, Page 7

SHOP HOURS.

Sir, —We are at the beginning 0 £ th* year which will prove whether or 119 ilve have the soul to remember an J practise some of tho great lessons* taught by the war and trio pestilouce*. 1 nave a suggestion to inaKo that I hope you will publish. The war and the pestilence alike called forth u splenuid demonstiation of wht£ "brotherhood'' means. Men and mr inen of aii classes and ranks hav* l'ought and worked and died side It) siue. Class prejudices have beea broken down. Men and women hav# realised that after all God has made of one blood all classes. We have learnr that the well-being of others should bo as much to us as our own. Now, before we forget; let us see if there is something we can do, and I humbly suggest that if as a whole we considered the well-boing of others wo

I should not compel a large iiumbor to work to (3 p.m. in the shops. AVhy ! should not shops closo at 5 p.m.!-' Offices, etc., closo then or earlier. J'liink what it means for shop-worker*, leaving homo if they live, say, at Now Brighton, soon after 7 a.m., and back about 7 p.m., tiled, with no timo or energy for anything better thnn after tea to drift into a picture show. How much happier and brighter uud healthier would their lives bo if they lcached homo an hour earlier? Some> people may say, "But how inconvenient not to bo able to buy hairpins or hatpins after 5!" Dreadful! Even if so, how much more inconvenient for thousands to have to stay in stulfy shops at a tiresome job for an extra hour just in case you want to buy something? Put yourself in their place—s p.m. closing would not hurt the owners, for just the same monoy would be spent. And the late night as well ought to bo cut out in the interests of the workers. Now, here in an opportunity to show a truo spirit of brotherhood by urging a reform which would benefit the others. It would not be difficult to carry it through—a strong public opinion, perhapß a meeting or two. a petition mayhe. and it might be done, and it will bo done if wo hnvo learnt what brotherhood means.—Yours, etc., ' H. H. MATHIAS. TIRPITZ AND HIS BEARD. TO THE EDITOU OF "IUE FRESS." Sir, —Perhaps it was the Delilah named Fear that made von. T. part with it. Anyhow, if tho report from Sweden is true, wo can now sleep peacefully, knowing tho forked menace is no more, and Britannia still holds tho trident in her fist. Would the subject, "Why do men shave," be a too frivolous one for discussion in your columns? There is .surely some literature on tho razor, porhaps some deep lying cause that makes so many of tho men scrape so diligently. The time the world spends in trying to thwart Nature would tot up to lmgo figures, as surprising as those given iu connexion with daylight-saving. Maybe tho women are tho cause, and if so, jt is deep-lying enough.—Yours, etc.. CHERCHEZ LA FEMME.