_Dudley, April 20th, 1848._
1848, April 26th. A public meeting was held at the old Town Hall,
under a numerous requisition of tradesmen to the mayor (Mr. Elliott
Hollier), "to consider some measure calculated to obtain an unanimous
_closing of the shops_ at eight o'clock in the evening throughout the
year, (except on Mondays and Saturdays), for the purpose of allowing to
the assistants engaged in business an opportunity for the enjoyment of
healthful recreation, and to enable them to participate in the benefits
it is intended should accrue to them by the recent establishment of the
Mechanics' Institute, but from which this class of the community is
totally debarred by the present system of late closing."
This question was not very enthusiastically taken up, for many long
heads in the town thought, and thought wisely, that the "Public House"
would be more likely to be patronized than the Mechanics' Institute,
where such "pleasure and relaxation" was afforded, and the upshot
of it was that every master was the best judge of his own business
requirements as to labour and relaxation.