SUNDAY "DEALS."

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18366, 27 April 1925, Page 16

SUNDAY "DEALS."

LAND AGENTS' OPINIONS. NO WARRANT FOR SEVEN-DAY WEEK. "The only way to go to Heaven is to work your passage," said a local land ' agent, with a quaint turn of speech, to a representative of "The Press" on Friday "when asked for his opinion regarding Sunday trading on the part of laod agents, particularly in the North Island. . » In Friday's issue of there appeared a report Btating that & Wellington land agent had been convicted for working at his calling _on a Sunday. With the object; of securing the views of Christchurch men on thet matter a "Press" representative called, on many of the principal land agents on Friday afternoon. The general opinion was strongly against business of any sort on a Sunday. "No reasonable man can possibly object to the Wellington Magistrate's decision, said, one agent. "The better class of agent does not dream of chasing business on Sundays. Such a procedure offends the religious community exceedingly, and in any case an agreement or contract made on a Sunday is not valid and would not bold water legally for a moment." - The reporter asked if it had not been the practice in some cases to date an agreement on the Monday after showing a prospective purchaser over a property the previous day. The reply was: "That sort of business is not done in Christchurch, as far as I am aware, and I've been in the game long enough." « The matter was discussed recently ax the Land ancli Estate 1 Agents' Conference at Auckland, and all members there set their faces strongly against Sunday business. Another agent said: "If one can't make enough money to keep on the right side of the ledger on six days of the week without carrying on on Sunday one had better be out of the business altogether." it was stated that at one time the custom wa3 very prevalent in Christchurch. afl in every other citv ; but it bad cometo be the genreal opinion that the Sunday must be kept free, if not from a religious point of view, then at least from the point of view of necessary rest and resulting efficiency. A (very well-known local agent said: "I note that the heading given to the report is 'Wellington Land Agent Convicted.' But in the body of the report it stated that the defendant in the case was a salesman—not an agent. rhe two were very different entities. We certainly do not believe in i_unday work, tut the breach is committed more by touts than legal agents. A man working on commission only, witn perhaps a very small salary attached, is liable to go to great lengths to keep things going. ' The commission basis solely is undesirable, as it leads to Sunday work and loosely-drawn-up contracts and many other evils. Unfair methods of securing business creep in and such a basis of employment is unfair to the business as a whole. It is far better to give the salesman a living wage and commission than to put him on a big commission only. Some agents in the North Island made a practice of taking people out to seaside resorts on Sundays for the purpose of showing them over sections. Consequently the actual business was done on that day. But the average man who held his (Jay of rest in any ivalue would refuse to accompany the agent. If the breach was not nipped in the bud it would be very liable to creep in and in some towns the thin end °f wedge had been inserted already. ' Ave absolutely refuse Sunday business," he concluded. . Without exception all the other agents seen by the reporter held the same views, and the substance of their remarks was that if a man worked legally on sis days of the week there would be no need whatever for encroaching on the Sabbath. As one employer put it: "I'm not a particularly pious man myself, - but. all the same. -I want to be free from all business on Sundays, and I am strongly against my employees disregarding tho sacred day of the week."