THE SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Evening Star, Issue 2859, 18 April 1872, Page 3

THE SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

To the Editor. The Saturday Half- oliday Association tuust now consider that their scheme will he a failure ; and to what must this failure be attributed ? The reason is, they are attempting too much ; they are attempting to upset nature. It is natural for the public, and especially working men’s wives, to wish for a walk down town on a Saturday mght, when their husbands have been paid, to make a fc *v little purchases, and as the day of rest is next day, there is not the necessity of getting up at six o’clock to get the breakfast reswy. It is a relief to the toiling heads of families to get out for a walk to see their friends ; and many a shilling is spent by the working man on that night to make his wife moie comfortable, which might otherwise find its way te the public house. But sunpo ing the Saturday half’holiday was successful for a while—for it could never last long ; a storekeeper who employs 20 men, we II say, is combined against by his own assistants and others to close on a Saturday afternoon. Very likely he loses L2O by it : this must be made up either by increasing his prices, wh ch cannot be done now-a-days, or taking jjl a week from ta.di of bis assistants ; thus the assistants will, in vulgar parlance, be cutting their own throats. If the association had tried to get all the shops closed on Saturdays at 8 o’clock, and wholesale establishments and others at 4 o’clock, there would have been a strong probability of success. There would then have been time for people to make their purchases, and in six mouths after you might have tried 7 o’clock. . . , My theory about closing is this—the Saturday afternoon, after a person has gone home and got their dinner, is of little use for recreation, and that the Ist Tuesday in every month, supposing there are no other public holidays du ing that month, should be kept as a legal holiday. A short Act might be passed to enforce this. Compel everybody to close—for if you allow the Harbor Company to keep open, you roust allow publicans. Then the tobacconists, confectioners, and fruiterers have a good claim, and so on, ad lib. Monday would not do, on account of butchers in hot weather. If Tuesday was adopted, families might take a walk--have a pic-nic; we might have sports near the town, and make a gala day _ have Volunteer reviews cricket matches. &c. In the early part of the year we have plenty of holidays, but not so from April to November. I would just wind up by saying that the Christchurch employes tried a plan which at all events had the merit of fair play in it, by trying to get a half holiday without injuring their masters, by closing on a Wednesday afternoon. , . The Half holiday Association had better make a virtue of necessity, by confessing they were wrong in trying to do good to themselves at the expense of the storekeepers. Goodness knows it is a sufficient struggle to get bread and butter without spoiling the best day of the week. I assure the Association that three-fourths of the shopkeepers are against them in heart; that they are only calculating how long the halfholiday will last; that they are keeping open at present for appearances ; and that a majority of the public are against them too. I am, Ac., Cawar. Dunedin, April 17. 1872.