WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY OR SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 58, Issue 70, 24 April 1929, Page 8

WEDNESDAY HALF-HOLIDAY OR SATURDAY HALF-HOLIDAY

ORGANISER FOR WEDNESDAY HALF HOLIDAY.

To the Editor. Sir, — Under the above heading your eorrespondent, Mr Mitchell, commences by saving there is no doubt that Saturday lialf-holiday is the best for Napier. AVell, Mr Mitchell, our list of over 120 retailers and 1413 people who signed our petition, have r,aid and signed that they are sure tliat Wedncsdav is the best boliday foi Napier. Surely, sir, this is a case of tlie tail trying to wag the dog. Your eorrespondent says that a suecessful start to Tlie week makes a successful finish. Well, we make a suecessfut start on Monday, but if be considers Saturday' s business under the present system is a successful finish, it is a 2ood joh for him tliat he is not in business for himself. Iie further says that our lcngue camoufhiges the posiIjoii by publisliinc the names of fifty traders who will not be _ affectecl whether Wednesclay or Saturday is carried. We presume he is referring to tlie traders who at present remain open on Saturday. If your eorrespondent was in the position of these unfortunate traders wlio, on what sliould1 be. their busiest afternoon in the week, liave to sit there waiting for the trade which under the present system is dnven elsewhere, he would consider, as they do, that they are the persons most affeeted in tlie whole issue. Vonr eorrespondent then quotes Saturday, December 29, as liaving been open all day and poor business resulted. AVe, 120 retailelrs. say that we were not open on Decenilier 29 all day, but that in November and December last we had two Saturdays open and the exceplional results of tlie busineess 011 these Saturdays was one of tho main rcasoug of our combined organisation on tliis "matter, ancl we can assert witliout i'car of contradiction that there is 110 example in the history of Napier of such a unaniinity amongst tlic traders of the town. Mr Mitchell discusses Hastings- trade and depreciates the business they do. Hastings, we tbink, is quite capable of attending to tliat part, but tliere is one fact certain, that tliey are so satisfied witb tbe AArednesday half-boliday that at tbe last election on tlie question, tlie Saturday lialf- boliday was thrown out so completely that its supporters are not game to contest the matter any furtlier. Mr Mitchell then says we get an extra bit of trade on a. AVednesday. "Well, o,ir organisation says that Monday is the best of the first four days, with Tuesday AVednesday and Thursday practically equal for trade. AA'c are quite satisfied that tliis is a myth invented for propaganda liurposes by the Saturday supporters. Your eorrespondent next says that our list of towns of over 2000 people in the North Island witb a mid-week lioliday is misleading and incomplete. The fact tliat instead of saying it is misleading he does not say where we are wrong, sliows that your eorrespondent is attempting to do the misleading. AVhy not mention tlie towns ? AAre puhlish the list and it is a correct one. He further says that our list sliows that a population of 294,000 enjoy Saturday with 8900 mid-week, but carefully avoid s mentioning that Auckland aiid AVellington are on bis 294,000 list. As we previousy stated' in our list, "To compare the position of Napier with the four centres is absurd, as their trade can by no means go elsewliere." He tben naivelv remarks that we do not sliow what AVednesday towns bave changed over to Saturday. AAre imagine tliat if Mr Mitchell knew of any such towns he would have named them. He then gives a lecturette on how Napier sliould brighten up. This is what we retailers are working for, more trade means more brightness, _ and if our eountry ancl town trade is allowed the same facilities as elsewhere we shall aet it. Mr Mitchell ends up his letter by saying tliat Saturday is the more pleasant half-liolichty of the two days for the employees. Quite so, and soit is for the employer as a boliday. The contest as we have previously said, is one between the difference in pleasure in one half-day and another for the few, ancl the prosperity of the trade +nwn fm* nll. — X 1711. 6tc.,

Napier, April 24, 1929. (Inserted by Arrangement).