CHAPTER VI.

"Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a' that,

That sense and worth o'er a' the earth,
May bear the gree and a' that.

For a' that, and a' that,

It's coming yet for a' that,

That man to man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that."

BURNS.

THE Saturday Half-holiday is no untried benefit. It has already been enjoyed by a large number of our countrymen. If the charm of complete novelty has no part in the interest we wish to excite, the risk of venturing on new ground, and of reducing a theory to practice, is entirely avoided. In almost all our large towns, some attempt has been made to start the holiday, and wherever the effort has proved successful, employers and employed have acknowledged, in no niggard terms, the advantage of the boon. There are, of course, a few hyper-conservatives, who prefer the good old time, when they were boys, and who inveigh against new-fangled notions and popular conceits-just as there are still a few old ladies in the country who consider that by railway travelling, and by the penny post, we are "tempting Providence,'

PRESENT STATE OF THE MOVEMENT.

91

and bringing a curse upon the land. But these discreet females are glad to receive their letters notwithstanding, and if they will not risk their own lives upon broad or narrow guage, they are ever ready to welcome their nephews and nieces, albeit, they visit them by express train. In the same way there is many a man who declaims against the Saturday Halfholiday, who is nevertheless not in the least degree averse to know that the privilege has been extended to his sons; and, indeed, though the inconsistency may seem a strange one, it does not grieve him at heart to learn that it bids fair before long to be universal throughout the kingdom.

That it is not chimerical to hope for such a consummation, may be proved by a few statistics, which will reveal to us the present state of the movement. They are extracted from the Report of the "Early Closing Association" for 1859. In the metropolis the movement has been sanctioned and the Halfholiday adopted by the following public offices, companies, and traders: -The Stock Exchange, Lloyd's, the Baltic Coffee House, a large majority of the insurance companies, the General Post Office in some departments, the railway companies in certain divisions, the distillers, many of the brewers, the hop factors, the leather factors, several of the great printers, the wholesale fruiterers, the wholesale stationers, the wholesale booksellers, numerous merchants and brokers, with all the great

92

MEMORIAL TO THE GOVERNOR AND

"

warehousemen to the south and north of Cheapside, engaged in the Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, and Scotch trades. More than seven hundred legal firms also close their offices at two o'clock on Saturday; and in a memorial addressed by the Board of Management of the Early Closing Association" to the Governor and Directors of the Bank of England, the reasonableness of extending the holiday to the banking department is so pertinently stated, while at the same time the feeling of the business public is so strongly in its favour, that we feel persuaded no long time will clapse before the efforts of the Board are crowned with entire success. It will be worth while to transcribe the greater portion of this memorial, since it contains many interesting statements, and compresses into a small compass a considerable amount of information. The memorial, after stating, as we have already done, the names of the companies, traders, &c., which have practically sanctioned the movement, respectfully sheweth :

"That the bankers in some of the principal cities in the north of England, including Liverpool and Manchester, as also in Scotland, have, for some years past, carried out the Half-holiday movement; that the testimony of the various firms who have adopted an earlier hour of closing business, whether on Saturdays or other days, regarding the working of the change, is, for the most part, highly satisfactory.

"That the Reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Factories, relative to the effects of the Ten Hours Act,' furnish similar gratifying evidence; and your memorialists submit that this is

DIRECTORS OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND. 93

entitled to the more weight, as one of those gentlemen (Mr. Leonard Horner) originally expressed strong misgivings as to the expediency of the Factory Bill,' and has only been converted to his present views by an accumulation of irresistible facts which have come before him, proving the wise and beneficial nature of that measure.

"That many experienced and intelligent persons connected with banking operations have expressed the opinion that the practical difficulties in the way of the extension of the Saturday Half-holiday to those establishments are small, compared with the advantage to be conferred; that there are none but such as are incidental to the first introduction of all changes of importance, and are capable of easy adjustment, especially now that the movement has been carried out in so many other departments of commerce, and has, moreover, become so popular with the general public.

“That encouraged by this expression of judgment on the part of those acquainted with the details of banking business, and by the success which has attended the practice in question where it has been tested, and encouraged furthermore by the known liberality of the London bankers, your memorialists venture most respectfully to suggest, that, if you would extend the sanction of your Honourable Court to the movement, by closing the doors of the Bank of England at two o'clock on Saturdays, you would confer an important privilege on those engaged in that establishment, facilitate the adoption of the practice in the London banks generally, and, at the same time, give a powerful impetus to the cause in other quarters.

"That this generous concession on the part of your Honourable Court would most probably have the effect of enabling many thousands of the mercantile and industrial classes, with their families,―without infringing on the Sunday,-to participate in those interchanges of friendship, and to take that healthful recreation, which constitute some of the chief enjoyments and even necessities of life.

"That an indirect result, of considerable importance, likely to arise from the suspension of banking business at an earlier hour

94

THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY.

on Saturday, would be the more general payment of wages on Friday-a practice proved to be highly beneficial to the workman and his family, in many ways, and directly tending to remove the present alleged necessity for Sunday trading.

"That judging from numerous practical testimonies furnished by employers of eminence, it may be affirmed that the Saturday Half-holiday, while conferring so much happiness and benefit on dependents, in no material degree, if at all, militates against the interests of principals.

"That communications have recently taken place between your memorialists and many of the leading City firms, in various branches of business, in regard to the object aimed at, namely, the closing the doors of the London Banks at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon; and upwards of eleven hundred of these firms have already signed a declaration in respect to such proposal in the following terms, viz. :—

"We, the undersigned merchants, brokers, and others, hereby give our hearty concurrence to the same, believing that no inconvenience can arise to the public from such alteration being immediately effected.'

"That your memorialists crave leave to subjoin, in a schedule to this memorial, the names of the firms which have signed this declaration.

"Your memorialists, in conclusion, beg respectfully to commend this memorial to the kind and favourable consideration of your Honourable Court.

"(Signed on behalf of the Board of Management,)

"JOHN LIL WALL."

The answer of the Bank Directors is as follows:

"Sir,

"I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th June, containing a memorial addressed to the Governor and Directors, suggesting the closing the doors of the Bank of England at two o'clock on Saturdays, accompanied by a list of persons in trade favourable to the practice of early closing; and I have, in compliance with your request, laid the same before the