THE HOLIDAY MICROBE. We Are So Volatile.

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 243, 25 February 1905, Page 6

THE HOLIDAY MICROBE. We Are So Volatile.

W2 aie lathci paitial to holidays ourselves Our sympathy is easily excited m the cause of pleasant relaxation And we cheerfully look forward to- the time when King Dick shall decree five days a working week and consecrate the entire sixth to the cause of recreation That being so, who shall accuse us of bigotry on the subject of making a fetish of business or toil* * * • But, seriously now, is -not this ciaze for holidays on the part of certain sections of the community fast becoming an unmitigated nuisance, and a sei ious public inconvenience 1 Is not His Worship the Mayor just a trifle too easily persuaded to insert those frequent invitations to the citizens to put up the shutters and make holiday on one pretence or anotherl2 It used to be because of a victory in South Africa Sometimes it was to celebrate the return of a public man from abroad Tomoriow it may be the birth of a royal prince. Last Friday the excuse was the beginning of a threedays' cricket match between the Australian Eleven and the Wellington Fifteen. * * * Now m the name of all that is sensible, what earthly need was there to ask the citizens to suspend business and make holiday on Friday merely to watch the first stage of a cricket match ? We shall be told by the enthusiasts that it is an unusual event, and that it is a complete education in cricket to watch the Australian exponents of the noble game Veiy well, the match extended over three days, and theie was opportunity on Saturday afternoon for the great bulk of the community to spread themselves on the course of study in bat and ball provided bv the professors from Australia * * * However, the Mayor s invitation went forth to the citizens to make houuav on Friday, and the promptest citizens to obey the call were the public school-teachers It doesn't matter a biass farthing that they fin 1 shed up a six weeks' course of holidays barely a month ago. or that they have all had holidays since for school picnics — they always interpret a mayoral invitation for the citizens to take a holiday as a personal appeal to themselves Like Pooh Bah taking a bribe, it revolts them, but they do it And so lessons go hang for the day, and a whole host of nippers are turned loose upon anxious motheis and nervous tramcar men * * * That is not the worst feature by any means The banks, for whom even a race meeting within ten miles is good enough excuse for a holiday aii shut their doors, and you can neither cash a cheque nor get ahead of the festive burglar by making; a deposit The wheels of trade and commerce are chained up Also the gay and sportive civil servant kicks over his stool, puts on his coat and is off You may have come

down fiom the backblocks on some vital public business, but you've got to cool your heels in town because the cricket match is on. Your insurance policy may ha.ye run out, but it is your own fault if you didn't reinsure before the Australians started to play cricket in Wellington.

Now, we don t want to throw cold water on cricket, or deprive* anyone of the chance of seeing a first-class match At the same time public convenience and the ordinary operations of business must not be lightly esteemed All those banks, Government offices, and even the schools could have carried on and still have allowed their officials, clerks, and teachers who so desired to see the cricket match. One half might have gone off on Friday and the other half on Monday. In a week or two there will be an even more interesting match on hand — New Zealand v Australia, Shall we make a week of it ?