UP IN ARMS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 7

UP IN ARMS.

SATURDAY CLOSING MOVEMENT. PROTEST BY SHOPKEEPERS* A UNANIMOUS MEETING. A largoly-attendcd meeting of cit shopkeepers was held at the Masonic Ha last evening for the purpose of discus: ins ways and means of fighting the cuj rent movement, organised by the Wellinj Um Trades and Labour Council, for tb adoption of Saturday afternoon as th weekly half-holiday. It was cxplaine that the meeting was a general one, nc strictly .representative of the Shopkeeper: Association alone. Apologies for absenc were received from Mr. llobert Hanna and Mr. P. Cohen. Mr. T. Bush, of the Union Clothin Company, presided, and by way of pre face remarked that he took it that al present were shopkeepers. The meetiu was oonvened for the purpose of fightin the movement for the Saturday hall holiday. He himself had been iightin the movement for the last nineteen year: Referring to the present campaign for th Saturday half-holiday, he said he r< garded the auspices under winch it wo being carried as a sign of weaknes: It was not a shopkeepers' campaign. . Public Opinion, .He -himself thought that the genera body of public opinion was in favour c leaving things as they were. A forme canvass on this matter had showed—h spoke from memory—that 4000 wero i favour of, a change, while the signatory to a' petition in favour of retainin the. existing arrangement totalled 2-I,oo\ (Applause.) In conclusion, Mr. Bus said that those present would he askc to contribute their mite to the cause, fo an active and well-organised campaig would I>3 necessary, if the movement wei to be successfully combated. Mr. A. A. George (ol Messrs. Georg and George), said that there was a ver serious danger of business becoming d verted into other channels if this mow . ir.ent they were fighting were successfu Their campaign,'ho thought, should bo i the" direction of educating tho public o thi> question,, and a conimitteo should b appointed, to draft a statement of th spoplceepers' sida of the case for publics tioh in the press. , Revolutionary Movement. Mr. James Godber said that if th Saturday half-holiday.-wore carried, i would revolutionise the business bf th city—and to its detriment. (Hear, hear, Tho; only 'argument, apparently, tha thoso in favour of the movement coul' offer in support—he spoke from what li had read concerning tho presentation o tho petition to the Mayor on "Wednesdaywas that the workers would bo able t visit their friends in the country, an es cursion impossible if Wednesday were th holiday. Business here, they all knen h'ucl, been in a very bad way for somo tiin past, and now. that, there wero indica tioris of a chaugo for the better, it woul< bo. a disastrous thing.to introduce sue! a l revolutionary system. Some of th people who had given their sunr.ort wer residents of Thorndon, who wero'acting ii a selfish way. He emphatically declare that such people had no right to attemp to prevent tho shonkeeners from eaterin to the general mass. of. the people. Mi Godber declared , that a numbe of the supporters of tho move ment showed 'crass ignorance of th subject, and 1 somo "'of the 'statement . made'were wilfully '-misleading. • It.hai been stated,'for example, that it was iio fair to bind a. shopkeeper down to clos' on Wednesday. ' As a' matter of fact m shopkeeper under the present arrange reent was bound down. He could clo= on Saturday if he liked. The speaker ad voeated a straight-out„fight for the- Wed nesday. ' " ' '• Lambton Quay Shopkeepers. Mr. Geo. Winder considered that tin Lainbton Quay shopkeepers were againsi them in this matter. Several voices: No. •• Mr. Winder: Well, a majority of then ari, at any rate. It was perfectly clear he, said, that the closing of the shop: on. Saturday would cut off the countrv ant suburban customers from their trade They might as well go the whole wo; and close down all the places of amuse" ment.: He asked, them to picture to them . 6elves. a city with- its .shops, closed on Sat . urday night—the..weekly -.shopping nigh working , classes; He proteste< against these ;mo.vements to. harass th ehbpkeeper. ,Mr. Godber at a later stage mentionec that he had recently discussed tho ef . feet of the Saturday half-holiday systen ia Sydney with a gentleman who ha< first-hand knowledge of the subject, am was informed that the results had beei most unsatisfactory, the more cmphatii . complaint coming from tho workin; • classes. An Interesting Letter, At this stage a. letter from a Welling ' ton. shopkeeper (Mr. A. Ivnowsley) wa read.- The.writer, regretting.his inability to be present, assured the meeting of hi' fullest sympathy. It certainly seemed i pity, saul tho writer, that the assistan could not see things as they would be should they be successful. "They .are assistants to-day," he said, "to-mor l-ow they may wish to become small shop keepers, only to find that they hav. placed a halter round their own necks My. experience in Natal, South Africa, : few years ago, when the same thing too] place, was that it was the means of clos ing. two-thirds of the small shopkeeper throughout Natal; and to-day we only- the very large establishments hav been able to exist. It will indeed be ; bad day for Wellington should a simila state of things come about. Wishing yo' every success- in your just .'endeavour t enable the small man to carry on hi business." • Mr. Len M'Kenzie, as one of thoso "en joying one of the exemptions," support® the. object of tho meeting as a matter c principle. From his experience, ho d< lied anyone to show that Wednesday wa a' good day for business. Thero was n doubt at all, he said, that the closing c the shops on Saturday afternoon woul have the effect of diminishing the circuh 'tion of the city's money. Tho spendin •poiver of the people would most ccrtainl be less. In Sydney, where the Saturda movement had prevailed,' business peopl who-enjoyed'exemptions had had to cot fess that under tho Saturday closing rul that day was a "dead" ono to them. Thei Friday's business had picked up a littli but not much. < Misconception ' Cleared : Up. Mr..H. H. Seaton, desiring to remov BOrao misconception,' which, he said, a] patently prevailed on this question, state tliat the issue was simply whether th simps should close on Wednesday or Sal urday. That was all. It was not a que; tion of a Saturday half-holiday for al The point which required to'be mad perfectly clear was this: If the Wedne day half-holiday wero retained, the peopl who desired to close on Satnrdav coul still do so; but if Saturday were "decide upon there would be no option for anj one. Everybody would have to shut u shop.' During the progress of the can paign by the other side, continue the speaker,, inquiry had di: closed the fact that of som 4000 names which had then been secure to the petition, there were only aboii thirty shop assistants. He had the bereasons for believing that certain of tli big'establishments had lent financial a: pisllinee to the Saturday movement. N do'lbt certain "toney" seclions of the coir rn unity saw no objection to the shoj closing on Saturday, but he was prepare to state that nine-tenths of the gener; public do their shopping, and preferre to do their shopping, on Saturday. (Heai hear.) A Proved Failure. Tlifi speaker then read from the Sydne '"Daily Telegraph," of December G last, a account of a deputation which had waito upon the Minister for Labour on this vet question. The article was headed "Th Unhappy Half-Holiday." and rceounte the presenting.of a petition signed by 991 people of Newcastle asking for an alter! tion in the system. Tho Minister ha been "deeply impressed" by what he ha heard. The Saturday movement had bee tried in Nelson, in Blenheim, in Napiei.

and had been a failure. It had been a failure wherever it had been tried, and soon dropped. If it was not a failure, then why, he asked, had the people gone back on it? A recent tally of people coming into the city for. a Saturday night's shopping gave tho figures at 3000. On Monday a petition in favour of tho retention of Wednesday had been started, and by 'Wednesday -100 shopkeepers had signed it. (Applause.) A Unanimous Resolution. Jlr. Seaton then moved "That this meeting of shopkeepers strongly protests against the clause in tho Shops tind Offices Act allowing a poll of municipal electors to deckle tho day for the half-holiday closing of shops as being harassing and against tho interests of the business community, a copy of such resolution to be forwarded to the Minister for Labour." The motion was seconded by Mr.'Quinton, and carried unanimously. It was also resolved unanimously in favour of the \\ ednesday half-holiday, and ,1 committee consisting of Messrs. 11. Wardell. A. A. George, T. Bush, J. uodber, L. M'lCeuzie, G. Winder, H. 11. bcaton, T. Queree, H. W. Lloyd, H. Coltman, A Yeitch, and I(. Haiu:th was appointed to organise tho campaign. £70 Collected. The chairman announced, amid applause, that five gentlemen had come forward \tith donations of .£5 each. A collection in the room resulted in a sum of A7O being raised as a first instalment of the fighting fund. A hearty vote of thanks to the chairinaii concluded the business.