BUSINESS IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 307, 24 December 1912, Page 9

BUSINESS IN CHRISTCHURCH.

■ NOT A STSGLE PESSIMIST. (By Telegraph.— Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. There is a very general opinion amongst business people in Christchurch that this year's Christmas season is much ' better than last year's, and as last year's was better than the previous ycar'B. and that year's bofore its predecessor, and so on back for a decade and a-half in an almost unbroken line, the season the citizens are now enjoying stands as a record. The improvement is noticeable in nearly all branehf:.. of trade. t Fairly exhaustive inquiries made during the past week failed lo discover one pessjmistic report. There is a spirit of cheer- \ fulness and hopefulness abroad, and in the shops and warehouses there are many signs of prosperity and enterprise. Tbe most marked of these signs perhaps is the almost unanimous statement by the heads of large businesses that the people are buying more costly Christmas goods now than they have ever bought before. This applies to all sorts of goods from jewellery and ladies' clothing to fancy goods and toys. Several grocers stated that their experiences showed that there were ample supplies of money in the city ] and the province. The people's spending I power, they said, had increased largely | and with it there was an imperative de- J mand for better quality. The head of one grocery firm stated that he had ceased j to keep stocks of cheap groceries, as he found that the public taste had outgrown | them. He said that the plum pudding,! with its manifold ingredients, had gone eompletelv out of fashion in Christchurch. | He concluded from the classes of goods ordered and purchased by many of bis customers that public opinion had gone in favour of spending holidays at picnics and other gatherings in the opeu air. In any en.se he added, the position was quite sat-1 isfactorv to the grocers, who have no reason to complain, made no complaints, and | looked hopefully to the futtrre.