305 



The Volunteer system which extends to England has on its part done 

 much towards this happy result ; for to be a soldier is to be a man. 

 I wish heartily poor old Ireland could be got into a state such as 

 would justify the Government in extending to it the Volunteer system. 

 Perhaps some day it may, but at present the time seems far off. 



Bank Holidays, too, have done much towards the development of 

 manhood among the employee class. On the other hand, much harm 

 is done by these Bank Holidays. They come so seldom, men naturally 

 take all the value they can get out of them. Estimates of what is 

 called enjoyment are various, and unfortunately include drunkenness-. 

 This vice is indulged in by hundreds on Bank Holidays, and for days 

 afterwards they are incapacitated from performing their duties, and 

 thus is the object of a general holiday abused. 



Now, my notion is that we have too few general holidays ; that if we 

 had them more frequently little or no abuse would result. I speak from 

 experience, and when I give my reason I shall be understood. Long 

 ago we had very few race meetings either in England or in Ireland, 

 compared with what we have now. When it so happened that we 

 could go to a race meeting, say, only three or four times in the year, the 

 event almost invariably culminated in a debauch of more or less degree. 

 This is a general fact which no race-goer of as long experience as myself 

 can dispute. Moreover, the propensity to get across the line was alike 

 in all classes, even up to twenty years ago. Now, when an opportunity'' 

 to attend a race meeting is afforded nearly every day in the week, and 

 when it is availed of by the public to tenfold greater extent than it was 

 long ago, what do we see? No drunkenness at race meetings, and 

 no debauch overnight — at least among respectable people. 



This fact, which has been brought emphatically under my own 

 immediate observation, I adduce as an example of what would be the 

 result of having general holidays more frequent than they are. 



I have no hesitation in stating that I believe if an Act of Parliament 

 was to be passed by which every Saturday would be made a half- 

 holiday and the first Monday in every month a whole one, little or 

 no abuse of the indulgence would accrue, but on the contrary a vast 

 deal of benefit. Those who, like the police, railway and post-office 

 officials, could not be spared off duty on the regular days should be 

 given others instead. In fact, every man in the kingdom should be 

 entitled to a half-holiday in every week, and a whole one in every month. 

 As a matter of course, no deduction in pay should accrue, but the 

 present general holidays, except those attendant upon Christmas and 

 Easter, should be abolished. 



We must realise the fact that while bodily labour is less, that of the 

 mind is vastly more arduous nowadays than it was thirty years ago. 

 More is done in a week now within commercial circles than could be 

 done in a month then, and everyone knows the mind needs rest more 

 than the body. Therefore, occasional respites from labour such as I 

 have suggested would bear results to the employer even more beneficial 



X 



