CHRISTMAS EVE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 306, 26 December 1924, Page 4

CHRISTMAS EVE.

CROWDS IN THE STREETS. A GAY SCENE. Right on midnight on Wednesday, Santa Claus, after a week's sojourn in Auckland, packed what few things he had in stockings, pillow-slips, etc., bade Aucklandera au revoir, and left on a twelve months' holiday. It was Christmas Eve and all Auckland turned out to farewell this popular visitor. Never in Auokland's history have such crowds paraded Queen Street and Karangahape Road and an estimate of the number puts the figures down at something like 50,000. With the exception of the trams all vehicular traffic was prohibited in the city's main promenade and it was well it was so, as there was hardly room enough on either road or footpaths for pedestrians. Christmas Eve does not begin at any particular hour on December 24, but early in the afternoon crowds began to pour into town and increased hourly till eight o'clock there was a slow surging mass of humanity. Men, women, and children, presented a kaleidoscopic scene of gaiety, with every shop in the town brilliantly lighted. The scene was one of animated joy. Perhaps the crowd was more dense in Karangahape Road than in Queen Street, but there was enough room for a man and his parcels, no more. Nothing else mattered. The occasional bleat of a toy trumpet was heard but as the majority of children were at home thero was nothing in the nature of deafening noise. The shops were doing great business but it was evident that many shoppers had made their purchases early in the week and thereby saved themselves much inconvenience. From nine o'clock onwards the crowd started to drift homewards and at eleven the streets began to look deserted. Everyone was happy, joy was written everywhere, and Christmas 1024 must be entered up in an atmosphere of pleasure and prosperit}-.