CONDITIONS IN SYDNEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17, 21 January 1931, Page 3

CONDITIONS IN SYDNEY.

SLACK TIMES AT HOTELS.

EXCELLENT AIR MAIL SERVICE

"Champagne is seldom seen on a dinner table in Sydney in these days," said Mr. J. C. Hardier, of Auckland, who returned by the Maunganui yesterday. "Things are very hard over there and the visitor is particularly struck with the slackness in the holel trade. Places which in normal times have 150 guests are lucky now to have 25," he said. Mr. Hardley, who was accompanied by his wife, spent several weeks holidaying in Sydney.

Another thing that greatly impresses the visitor to Sydney, according to Mr. Hardley, is the number of men—men who have obviously known bettei* times —who are now about the streets pracfr-' cally begging for food. Asked if lie thought the present depression showed any signs of lifting, Mr. Hardley said that opinions differed. Many people believed that bottom had been reached, but a manager of a bank had told him that the' depression would yet become worse. The Australian public as a whole was firmly convinced that things would right themselves eventually. The aerial mail service from Sydney to other parts of Australia is wonderfully well organised," remarked Mr. Hardley. "Every' morning, on the tick of eight o'clock, you hear the buzz of the mail 'plane leaving for Brisbane. The punctuality of the services is so good that people living near the aerodromes can set their clocks and watches by the time of the arrival and departures of the 'planes." .....