Switch In Late Night Shopping

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30978, 7 February 1966, Page 10

Switch In Late Night Shopping

(New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, February 6. The Waitara community is split by a decision of the Waitara Retailers’ and Businessmen’s Association to switch late trading from the traditional Friday night to Wednesday night.

Traders and shoppers have totally divided opinions on whether the move will mean more profits for the business people and greater convenience for the customers.

The Labour Department has made it clear that if Waitara shops open in defiance of the law the department will enforce the law without benefit o a warning. The Secretary of Labour, Mr H. Parsonage, said in Wellington that under the Shops and Offices Act late trading nights must be observed on the last shopping day of any week.

Mr Parsonage said opening and dosing hours were fixed by awards, and the only way the Waitara traders could switch their late night from Friday to Wednesday would be to make application to the Shops and Offices Ex-

emption Tribunal for an exemption of the closing provisions of the awards applying in Taranaki. “This (the proposed action by the Waitara association) is a breach of the award and the act, and the department would be compelled to take immediate action,” he said. “We would file information for a breach of the award against individual shopkeepers and a hearing before either a Magistrate or the Arbitration Court could result," he said.