THE HALF-HOLIDAY QUESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8493, 24 July 1907, Page 5

THE HALF-HOLIDAY QUESTION.

The following petitions are being very numerously signed by the shopkeepers and residents of Masterton, town and district. They will be duly forwarded to the member for the district for presentation to the House of Representatives : "RESIDENTS' PETITION. Mr A. W. Hogg, M.H.R., Masterton. Sir, —We, the undersigned residents of Masterton and vicinity hereby request that you will use your best endeavours and influence to arrange that all shops and factories in connection with shops, shall hold their weekly half-holiday on Thursdays as now, this being the most convenient day for country people, as it enables us to do our weekly shoppi-g on Saturday Vvl.en we bring our produce in for sale. As regards wage earners who are generally paid on Saturday at noon, they have often a long distance to travel to reach their homes, and they and their wives have to do their shopping on Saturday afternoon and evening. If, on the other hand, all business places should be closed on Saturday, we would all suffer great inconvenience, and loss of time, if we are compelled to do our shopping on any other day." "SHOPKEEPERS' PETITION. Mr A. W. Hogg, M.H.R., Masterton. Sir, —We, the undersigned shop and factory proprietors, hereby request that you will use your best eu- m deavours and influence to cause an" amendment of the holiday clauses of the Factories Act to be passed early in the coming session of Parliament to the effect that all employees in factories coming under the provisions of the Act, in country districts,' v/here a shop and factory is conducted as one business, and dressmakers, may be granted their weekly halfhoilday on the statutory day for the district in which the shop or factory is situated. We would point out that most country people and wage-earners come into town on Saturday, and it will inconvenience them considerably not to get their requirements attended to on that day. Saturday has been recognised as the market day from time immemorial in the Old Country and the Colonies. The late Mr Seddon (then Minister of Labour) when the Act first came into force, fully recognised the inconvenience the holiday clauses of the Act would cause in the country districts if strictly carried out, and allowed the clauses to remain in abeyance for the last six years. Should we be compelled to close our businesses on Saturday it would entail a serious loss on us uy the curtailment of trade, and would necessitate a reduction in the number of our employees."

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