Shops test Easter ban again

By BERNARD ORSMAN and ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

An Auckland bookseller who was fined $300 for trading on Easter Sunday last year flouted the law again yesterday.

Anne Whelan opened her Dymocks franchise in Atrium on Elliott, saying a law that allowed some shops to open but not others was ludicrous.

"You can buy a book from a garden store but you can't buy a book from a bookseller," she said.

"You can feed your gambling addiction, you can feed your plants but you can't feed your mind.

"So long as customers continue to want to buy books, we will continue to open the doors."

Anne Whelan said she was disappointed that a move to liberalise shop trading hours had been rejected in Parliament on Wednesday, leaving shopowners with no choice but to take a "proactive stance". A private member's bill sponsored by Act MP Rodney Hide would have allowed all shops to open on Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

It was rejected in a personal vote by MPs.

Mt Maunganui, for nearly a decade at the forefront of the fight to open on Easter Sunday, also thumbed its nose at the law yesterday.

Former Mainstreet manager Trevor Craig made no apology for trading at his Bin Inn bulk food market.

Most other shops also opened yesterday, although few bothered on Good Friday.

The Legend of the Sea, one of the biggest cruise ships to come into New Zealand waters, docked at the Port of Tauranga on Friday with 2500 passengers and crew.

"And there were no shops open here or in Rotorua. It is ridiculous," said Mr Craig. "If the ship had been at Picton, they would have been able to go shopping.

"You can't tell me that is a fair law."

Despite wet weather yesterday thousands of visitors were out and about.

Mr Craig said his business more than doubled last Easter Sunday's profit and trebled a normal Sunday's takings.

He did not know if any Labour Department inspectors were in town.

"If so, they didn't introduce themselves."

The inspectorate manager for the Labour Department in Wellington, Chris Tracey, said between 30 and 35 businesses nationwide were being investigated for trading illegally on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The department would know in the next two weeks how many it would prosecute.

Last year, 23 businesses were prosecuted, including 11 in Auckland.

Chris Tracey said that an inspector had visited Anne Whelan's bookshop but it was too early to say if she would be prosecuted a secondtime.

A survey by the Retail Merchants Association has found that most shopowners want to keep their doors shut on Christmas Day and over Easter, but groups such as hardware retailers face considerable pressure from the public to open over the Easter holidays.

Hardware retailers were annoyed that the Government had changed the law to allow garden centres to open on Easter Sunday (but not Good Friday) while barring hardware shops from opening.