SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1921, Page 7

SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY.

THE PEOPLE MUST DECIDE. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Oct. 6. Difficulties caused in Timaru by the adoption of the Saturday half-holiday were mentioned in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. J. Oraigie (Timaru). T<he member said that serious logs was being imposed upon the tradespeople of the borough,, owing to the fact that Timaru had the Saturday half-holiday while neighboring centres, such as Temuka and Waimate, had the half-holiday on some other day of the week. The.country trade that naturally would come to Timaru was going to the other towns. Mr. Craigie' read a letter that he had received ffntri the Timaru Employers’ Association referring to the losses that the business people were suffering and stating that' if no relief were afforded the shopkeepers might be driven to defy the law. The alternative would be to dismiss many hands. He asked bhet the Government should either make provision for the taking or another poll, on a requisition from the people concerned, or should make the Saturday half-holiday universal. The member strongly urged the importance of the matter.

The Minister for Labor (Hon. G. J. Anderson) replied that the Government had no intention of bringing down legislation to make the Saturday halfholiday universal. The selection of a day for the half-holiday was in the hands of the people themselves, and if they ehose Saturday they must bear the consequences. He knew of other cases where the Saturday half-holiday had caused a great deal of hardship. He believed that it was a good arrangement for the big concerns and a calamitous arrangement for the small concerns in any town. Some country towns would face ruin if they adopted the Saturday halfholiday. But that was a matter for the people themselves to decide and the Government did not intend to propose an alteration of the law. If special polls were permitted on requisition, the result would be frequent changes from one holiday to another and the last condition would be worse than the first. The matter could be discussed later in the session when an amending Shope and Offices Bill was before the House. He certainly would oppose a universal Saturday half-holiday.