CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 46, 22 February 1879, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the "Evening Mail." Sir— l see with great satisfactiou that the early closing question is at last taken up. I have felt for sometime past that steps ought to be taken to lessen the number of hours that shopkeepers' assistants have to work. To accomplish this the sympathy and cooperation of tho public is necessary, and to evoke this suffer me to lay a few facts before your readers. These facts relate to the extraordinary demand made upon the physical strength of shopmen. While mechanics and laborers are supposed to exhaust their energies in eight hours, shopmen for some inexplicable reason are held capable of yielding a supply for eleveu, some twelve, hours. While six days of eight hours each a week are considered sufficient taxation upon the strength of the artisan and laborer, the poor shopmen must work eight and a half such days a week. Again, while tbe formers' year consists of 305 working days the Litters' year contains 435 days of equal number of hours. Agaiust this it is often urged that our work is not so heavy as that of those classes mentioned. In some cases perhaps not, but while the mechanic's hands alone are taxed the shopman iv most cases endures a heavy mental strain, and iv the fruit season the manual labor performed in some shops is enormous, and the petty, crosses and annoyances of a shopman's life are unknown to t,he outdoor working man. In conclusiou we appeal to the public to aid us to ame'iorate our position, as " public convenience" is a greater consideration with employers thau our welfare. To employers we say that as elsewhere the public do not feel any inconvenience where the shops close earlier. Even so the public of Nelson will, I feel sure, gladly conform to n better state of things here. Trusting you will find space for the foregoing.— l am, &c, General Store. Nelson, Feb. 21, 1873.