HOLIDAY MOVEMENTS

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 306, 23 December 1912, Page 5

HOLIDAY MOVEMENTS

BY TRAINS AND STEAMERS.

AS MANY OUT AS INWARD.

A feature of the holiday traffic this Christmas-time is that as many people seem to be going out of town as there are coming in. Between Saturday morning and nooh to-day, an estimated total of 4000 people came to or went out of Auckland, and as nearly as can be ascertained the division has been about equal. The Rotorua express from Auckland on Saturday morning took some 400 passengers." and this morning the nuniber of passengers wars about similar. Ibe ordinary express for Wellington last night took 250 people, and a special train for Wellington, leaving at 10 p.m., carried 350, this number including a party of over 100 Territoriale, en route for Christenureh. to participate in' the military tournament there. Vesterdiy morning's express from Wellington brought 250 people, and a special train arriving from the South an hour later ushered in nearly as many more. Steamer traffic, both inward and outward, has been absolutely congested. In fact, the coastal agencies report that their steamers are able to carry no more. Since Saturday morn ng it in computed that over 3.000 people have been landed here by steamer, and. as in the case of the railways, just about as many have left by steamer. When a "Star' reporter made a round of the shipping offices this morning, most of them were quite blocked up by people in patient waiting for steamer tickets. The office clerks were greatly exercised in coping with the rush, and they expected to continue so right on until after the New Year. Popular sources of traffic were Whangarei, Thames, Tauranga, Mercury Bay, and the many seaside settlements around the gulf and the harbour. Traffic from more distant parts has also been up to the usual volume, especially from Gisborne, Napier and other East Coast ports. The Mokoia took over 200 passengers on Saturday for the South, while the Wimmera" brought from the South yesterday nearly 300 passengers. Oversea arrivals by the \ ictoria from Sj-dney yesterday totalled about 250. The most pronounced feature of all the inward traffic is that the city has assumed its busiest and most bustling aspect. Queen Street and Karangahape j Road, more especially, are thickly thronged from early morn until late at night, and the protracted process of Christmas shopping is proceeding with as much intensity and enthusiasm aj ever before. Shop people report a satisfactory circulation of coin of the realm, and when the totals are'run out, it ifl quite possible that a record may be discovered. To-morrow will provide the night of nights so far as Christmas shopping and popular outdoor jubilation is concerned.