BUSY SHOPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 304, 26 December 1939, Page 6

BUSY SHOPS.

HUGE TRADE DONE.

SYDNEY'S CHRISTMAS.

HOLIDAY RESORTS BOOKED.

(From Our Own Corresponi?r.f.)

SYDN KY. December 21

All the signs now suggest that this is going to be an e..... bigger Christinas than was expected. Accommodation at practically all holiday resorts was booked long ago, and now even the motor camps are fully booked. Apparently motorists, fearing probable petrol restrictions in the New Year, hive determined to have one good tour first. To cope with the record motor tr-iftic expected, police patrols have In-en greatly strengthened and all main road's will be under constant watch in an endeavour to keep down the holiday toll of life on the roads.

Last Friday night was one of the biggest shopping nights in Sydney's history, and an even bigger night is expected to-morrow. Last Friday the crowds were so dense that they took possession of the streets as well as the pavements, so this Friday the police are prohibiting motor traffic during the evening in the busiest retail streets.

It was estimated that Christmas shopper* spent £1.000,000 in city stores last Friday night. Their purchases included the following: —

250.000 Christmas greeting cards. 200.000 boxes of handkerchiefs. 150.000 ties. 130.000 pairs of silk stockings. 100.000 pairs of socks. 100.000 Christinas stockings. 100.000 bathing costumes. 50.000 boxes of powder. 35.000 pairs of slippers. 35.000 pairs of sandshoes.

To cope with this enormous rush of trade the stores have engaged 3000 casual hands. The G.P.0., which is handling nearly 3.000,000 postal articles every day, has 500 extra postman 011 the job. The trams are using 5.000,000 tickets a day, and the buses 1.000.000. Sydney has gone all out for a Merry Christmas while it can.