PUBLIC OPINION.

Patea Mail, 25 February 1882, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

Contributions, Letters, Inquiries and Answers thereto, are invited on Farming. Commerce, Politics, and matters of interest to the Patea district. Names of writers need not be Printed.

LATE SHOPPING

As a correspondent re early closing, I am not a little surprised to see tlie establishments of some of our leading business men still kept open for business after the hour of 7 p.m. One would have thought, after the “ passage at arras ” between those gentlemen who speak of their neighbors as men of an avaricious turn of mind, monopolists, &c., that some good would have resulted, and these gentlemen (K.O.T.R’s —knights of the ribbon) after they had sheathed their swords, would (in true British style) have approached each other and endeavored to come to an amicable understanding whereby neither would receive any injury or make any personal sacrifice. As it is, we have to notice with regret that whilst some of the principal business men close their establishment promptly at 7 p.m., and give their employees the benefit of an evening to themselves, the other antagonistic tradesmen still hold their employees in captivity until 8, % and sometimes 10 o’clock, making their day’s labor 13 hours long, or 11 hours after deducting two hours for meals. The probability is that if they still persist in the course they are now pursuing, other tradesmen will in justice to themselves be forced to open their establishments for business after 7 p.m. I trust the public will look at the matter with fairness, and follow out a suggestion made by a former correspondent by patronising those (all other things being equal) who do not, for loss of gain or combativeness, force their employees to do duty for 11 hours per day, or 68 hours per week, Saturdays included. The mechanic, farmer, and laborers in general enjoy the benefit of the eight-hour system which New Zealand is proud to boast of ; yet females, boys of tender age, and young men who after being confined in shops and work-rooms of the establishment referred to, and who so eminently need a little pure air and wholesome exercise, are kept pent up for from nine to thirteen hours per day. I have no doubt if the police exercised themselves, and made a public example of one or two, under the provisions of the Employment of Females and Others Act, by empowering clause 12 of that Act, which provides for a penalty of £SO being inflicted on an employer who keeps persons coming under the operation of the Act after the hours therein stated, some good might result. In the meantime, I shall for my part encourage those tradesmen who are generous enough to release their employees after doing a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage, irrespective of clause 10, part 1, of the Act referred to above, which clause, if they insist upon taking advantage of it, allows them to employ salesmen and saleswomen (after the expiration of the eight hours) in retail places of business, so long as such place is open to the public ; but prohibits the employment of dressmakers or others engaged in manual labor, exercised by way of trade or for purposes of gain. Adelphos.