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539. I think the work could be easily done from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays included. I get an hour for dinner and three-quarters of an hour for tea on all days but Saturdays, when I get about half an hour altogether for meals. The wages are £1 ss. a week, and I find myself. Igo home for meals. 540. The hours of the other shops are, I think, just the same. 541. We work half a day on holidays, and sometimes the whole day. If others would shut we would shut; if they will not, then we must keep open. We are not paid extra for working extra hours, or on holidays. On week nights it is sometimes a quarter to 10 and sometimes 10 o'clock before I get away. That occurs occasionally, not very often. 542. Wages for assistants go from £1 ss. to £2 10s. per week. In Sydney and Melbourne wages are better and the hours are less. Competition here reduces wages. I never get away before half-past 3 o'clock at night. 543. Whether we have anything to do at night or not we have to be there. We are slack in the afternoons, but we cannot leave the shop. We do no work during the slack time. We do not make up hair during the slack time. 544. Some shops I know keep open on Sundays for a part of the day. Joseph Braithwaitk examined. 545. lam a bookseller, a stationer, and fancy-goods dealer. I have five men, two boys, and eight female assistants in my employ. 546. All the lady assistants start at 9 a.m., and work till 6 p.m. one night, and till 9 o'clock the following night. They get an hour off for dinner and an hour off for tea. I give every one in the establishment an afternoon off once a fortnight. They take that in turns, there being one off every day ; and I also give them, in addition to the usual holidays, a week's holiday all round, in the year, without loss of wages. 547. I pay them weekly wages, ranging from 10s. a week to £3. I start the lady assistants at 10s., but I think we have only one at 10s. at present. After a short time their salaries are gradually raised. The highest, I think, is £1 7s. 6d. or £1 10s. a week. The men get from £1 to £3 per week. 548. The message-boys start at 7s. 6d., and work up to 15s. or£l a week ; a great deal depends upon their own capacity. 549. The women are allowed to sit during the day. There are chairs all over the establishment, and I have told them to take advantage of them whenever they feel tired, and particularly when it is their evening on. I frequently see them making use of these chairs. From 6to 8 p.m. there is no need for them to stand at all. As a matter of fact, there is only one hour—from Bto 9 p.m.—that there is anything doing at night. From 6to 8 p.m. they might sit down the whole time. During those hours people may occasionally come in, but not often. 550. If everybody made up their minds to close at 6 p.m. the same business would be done during the day. The public could make up their minds to buy at other times, and if shops closed at 6 p.m. no doubt they would arrange to get all they want before that hour. 551. It is generally the working-classes who shop during late hours. I believe you would have to keep open later than 6 p.m one night of the week for the convenience of the public, and I am in favour of Friday being the late night, and of closing on Saturdays, afternoons and evening. We close on all the other holidays. 552. The poorer class of people come in at night. It is the men who come after 6 p.m.; I think the wives might manage their purchases during the day. It is principally books that are bought late in the evening. 553. We do a large business at night between 8 and 9 o'clock, but I would close at 6 p.m. if everybody else would. 554. I do not think early closing will be obtained merely by moral suasion. lam in favour of the adoption of legal means. I think it would be more satisfactory to close all shops at one time, and then no advantage would be taken of persons who have to employ labour. If all shops were closed then people would shop during the day, and the small shops would get their share. 555. One-third of my receipts for the day are usually taken during one hour, from 8 to 9 p.m. 556. I do not see any way to shorten the hours excepting to shut up all shops at the same hour. I see no reason why every one should not close at 6p.m., excepting chemists. Ido not think there would be any hardship in closing the bakers' and confectioners' shops; people would get into the habit of making their purchases earlier. 557. In the last attempt that was made I induced, I think, sixty people to close, and a large number of them keep to the agreement still; but in my business one or two broke it, and the others had to do the same. 558. I think it would be best to have local option in the matter of the half-holiday or early closing, and that the proposal should be carried by a majority of two-thirds of the electors voting, and that the City Council should then pass and enforce a by-law on the subject. 559. At present we have only accommodation, in the way of closets, for males, but I have made application to the landlord for additional accommodation, and the employes are allowed to go out pretty freely. 560. We have had no sickness amongst the employes that I know of. 561. There is no difficulty in getting assistants; I have au enormous number of applications constantly made. I find the females to do the work very well; to be very clean, correct, and honest, faithful and punctual. The work is not hard, it is light. The females have no cleaning of windows or anything like that to do; that is done by the boys or men.