EARLY CLOSING ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5025, 2 May 1877, Page 2

EARLY CLOSING ASSOCIATION.

There was a ,large attendance at the musical and literary entertainment given at St. George’s Hall last evening by the Drapers and Clothiers’ Early Closing Association, and it passed off very successfully. His Worship the Mayor, who was in the chair, in a few introductory remarks spoke of the object for which 1 the society was formed, and of what it was. striving to obtain. He said it would be' admitted by all that the horns during which the retail business houses were kept open (on Saturdays particularly) were very long, and most would sympathise with the endeavors'of the society to shorten those hours. , The employers were as anxious to close their establishments early as the employes were to have them closed; but when competition was keen, as it was at present, it was scarcely natural to suppose that one person would shut his shop up earlier than another engaged in the same' trade, and it was difficult to secure agreement on the point. However, the question as - to whether the early closing regulation was to be adopted in Wellington, entirely rested with the public at large, and this was why the association had got up this entertainment. The association wished to let the public know what it was seeking to obtain. But he noticed that, those employed in wholesale establishments had equally as long hours as those in; the retail, in fact longer,'and he regretted it. In saying this, however, he did not wish' to deter young men from doing their dutyJ On the contrary, ho should always like them to be ready to sacrifice their spare time when their employers needed it, for a man who continually growled and grumbled at his employment was not fit to hold his position. But it mnst be admitted that there were employed in wholesale establishments a large number of young men, who must need a certain amount of recreation to make them fit for their work, and to make life enjoyable to them. The present hours, however, must prevent them from obtaining the necessary recreation, and they were impaired both in body and mind. Therefore he hoped that the early closing system would be thoroughly introduced into Wellington, and the praiseworthy object of the society attained. The entertainment was got through in a very creditable style.