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Closing of shops at 1 p.m. on weekly half-holidays.
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19.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, it shall not be lawful for the proprietor of any shop to keep such shop open for the serving of customers later than the hour of 1 p.m. on the weekday in any week which is in relation to such shop the weekly half-holiday in that week.
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(2) Where a shop is closed during the whole day on the occasion of a public holiday in any week and that day is not the weekly half-holiday in respect of such shop in that week, it shall be lawful for the proprietor of such shop to keep such shop open for the serving of customers after the hour of 1 p.m. on the weekly half-holiday immediately preceding or immediately succeeding that public holiday.
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(3) The Minister may, whenever and so often as he thinks fit, by order under this sub-section—
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(a) declare that a particular area (being an area frequented as a holiday resort during certain seasons of the year) specified or delimited in such order shall be an exempted area for the purposes of such order, and
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(b) suspend during a specified period within such season in respect of all shops of a particular class (defined in such manner and by reference to such things as the Minister thinks proper) situate in such exempted area the operation of sub-section (1) of this section.
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(4) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any shop in which either the only business carried on therein is a scheduled business or all the businesses carried on therein are scheduled businesses.
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(5) Where—
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(a) any excepted business is carried on in a shop, and
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(b) any other business (not being a scheduled business) is carried on in such shop,
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nothing contained in this section shall render it unlawful for the proprietor of such shop to keep such shop open for the serving of customers at any time on the weekday in any week which is in relation to such shop the weekly half-holiday, if while such shop is so kept open no transaction (other than a transaction connected with such excepted business) is carried out therein.
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(6) If the proprietor of any shop acts in contravention of this section such proprietor shall be guilty of an offence under this section.
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(7) Where the proprietor of a shop is charged with an offence under this section and it is proved that a customer was being served in such shop after the hour of 1 p.m. on the weekly half-holiday in any week, it shall be a good defence to such charge for such proprietor to prove that—
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(a) the hour at which such customer was being served was not later than 1.15 p.m. on such weekly half-holiday and that such customer was in such shop before the hour of 1 p.m. on such weekly half-holiday, or
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(b) in case such shop is a barber's or hairdresser's establishment, that the hour at which such customer was being attended to or waiting to be attended to was not later than 2 p.m. on such weekly half-holiday and that such customer was in such shop before 1 p.m. on such weekly half-holiday, or
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(c) that such proprietor had reasonable grounds for believing that the article with which such customer was being served was required in the case of illness.
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