THE HALF-HOLIDAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1109, 24 April 1911, Page 4

THE HALF-HOLIDAY.

The question of the weekly halfholiday for shops, which is to ho one of the issues submitted at the poll of citizens on Wednesday next, will not bo. an easy one for many people to make up their minds about. At first sight it .appears a reasonable thing that those shop-assistants who at the present time have their weekly halfholiday on Wednesdays should be permitted to enjoy the week-end holiday indulged in by the bulk of

iho community. The mid-week break, it is contended, is not appreciated to the same extent as the end of the week half-holiday with the full day on Sunday to follow. No 'doubt, this is the view generally held by shopassistants and most people will probably agree that there is a good deal to be said for it. Some of the largo business establishments already close on the Saturday afternoon and it, is to be assumed, therefore, that they find that their business is not materially affected by the change from Wednesday. Shop-keepers generally, however, and especially the smaller ones, view the possibility of change with the gravest apprehension. They claim, and no one can question the genuineness of their claim, that Saturday is the best business day in the week for them—many of them state that they do as much business on Saturday as on any two other days of the week. A large part —or at least some part—of this business they fear will be lost to them if they close on the Saturday afternoon and evening. It is argued, on the other hand, that the people of Wellington will not, in fact cannot, cut down their shopping simply because the shops dose on Saturdays; and that it will merely mean that they will have to do their shopping on other days than Saturday. There is a good deal to be said for this line of argument, but it takes no heed of suburban competition ; it, ignores the fact that there aie exempted businesses which overlap to some extent tho businesses of those forced to close and that these favoured businesses will secure trade which would otherwise go to tho closed shops; and it makes no allowance for the Saturday night habits of a large section of the community. These objections, we recognise, can be largely overcome either by amendments of the law or by educating the people to accustom themselves to changed conditions. But unfortunately the immediate hardship, and it is a very real one, remains. We have to take the law as it 'is; the customs of the people as they are, and the state of trade as we find it. This last factor has an important bearing on the issue on the present occasion. Is the timeopportune to make such a change 1 To us it appears that it is not. It is impossible to ignore the fact that a very large proportion of the business people of Wellington have been passing through a period of trade depression. Business has been dull, and, although tho outlook is brighter than it was, those who might be willing to test the effects of Saturday closing under more favourable trade conditions fear to take the risk in existing circumstances. Nor can they be blamed. We have not touched on that aspect of the question which directly affects the people themselves. Much has been said of the inconvenience which will be caused tn the public by the closing of the shops on Saturday. The people who shop, however, need no enlightenment on that point. Most of them probably know a good deal better than those who would instruct them, how great or how small their personal inconvenience will be, and it. is the one thing they will have little difficulty in making up their minds about. The trouble which thoughtful citizens will experience v.-ill be to decide between a natural inclination to meet the wishes of the shop-assistants in the matter of their recreation and the possible hardship and losd which the granting of such wishes at the present time may impose on shop-keepers whose business interests will have to bear the brunt of the experiment. In our opinion it is a bad time to experiment—there is much to be said for the universal half-holiday, but it is safer in Wellington to-day to leave things as they are