SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2812, 1 July 1916, Page 3

SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

-HOW IT AFFECTS PETONE AND HUTT. ■

In January last tho delegates-appoint-tertby the Hutt and Petono Borough Councils, in the'terms of the Shops and .Offices Act, for the purposo of fixing the statutory half-holiday, for the combined districts of Hutt and Petone, acting under instructions from their respective councils, arranged that Saturday should be the day to observe for the ensuing year. On March 4 the new 1 Act came into force. As the subject appears to be creating much discu&sion among the tradespeople and tho public oi, the Hutt Valley generally, a representative of this paper, with a view to ascertaining its effect upon the shop-keepers, visited practically every place of business in Lower Hutt and , Petone,.' and •; how (after upwards of a three months' trial) the' Saturdny half-holiday. 'was working. At lower Hutt, out of 40 shops visited; 18 declared that Saturday halfholiday' suited better! than Wednesday, 17 preferred, Wednesday to Saturday, and 5 were either not'long enough in business to state' which day, or were indifferent. At one large general store it was stated that , since the Saturday half-holiday had-been in force, the business had- increased to the extent of. ,£3O per week, ! and an extra man had to be engaged.- Another storekeeper' : considered a 12 months' trial was required before ail opinion could' be- formed, but Added- that no complaints had been made by customers. Many exempted shops advocated. Wednesday' half-day; the proprietors 1 stating: that, people did' not come ','up .tojyh" on .Saturdays. One employer preferred- Saturday-on the ground that his men, having played football on Wednesday, were unfit for work next day, but-they could play on Saturdays andi recover before Monday ' morning.' . At Petone 78 shops were called at, and 32 favoured Saturday, closing, 38, Wednesday, whilst,B.either were non-commit-tal or were .newly in business. Fruiterers and small drapers principally spoke in favour of Wednesday. One bootmaker stated that,; he.' .was losing heavily by the change, and added that the Wed-, nesday advocates intended to demand a poll at the next municipal election.

Many complaints were made that, a poll of tho residents was not taken, although it was admitted that no eucli poll had ever been asked for. Some small places objected to Saturday because they were unable to visit warehouses on Wednesday; others because tho rush on Saturday morning, with which they were unable to cope, was strenuous, and a few stated that if tho half-day were universal they would not mind. In very few cases,was Friday night favoured, as people did not "go out" as they dill "Formerly. One employer who advocated Saturday, said that he Temembered that' in the days when he worked for a master he supported Saturday closing. He added that lie had not forgotten those days and thought of others to whom it was a benefit.

Briefly put, the figure.; for the combined areas of Hutt and Petono in this connection are as follow:—Saturday closing, 50; Wednesday closing, 55; indifferent, 13. Tho total number of shops vis.ited was 118.