The Political Economy of Six O'clock Closing

Public bars in New Zealand traded from nine o'clock a.m. to six o'clock p.m. from Monday to Saturday between 1917 and 1967 despite the fact that demand was concentrated on five out of six trading days in the hour before closing. The statutory closing of bars at six o'clock p.m. in 1917 was initially a wartime regulation to restrict consumption of a narcotic; this paper suggests that it was extended because it was favoured by key interest groups namely trade unions hotel owners and prohibition organisations