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Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16812, 19 April 1920, Page 6

The official street decorations in Christc-hurch on the occasion of the Prince's visit are to bo confined, apparently, to the four arches which did duty last year for the Peace celebrations and the visit of Lord Jellicoe. This somewhat moderate display will, | we are afraid, be compared by visitor's rather unfavourably with Wellington's scheme of street decoration, which is 1 to be on a much more elaborate and imposing scale, providing, as it does, for the erection of decorated masts, standing some 40 feet apart, but linked together by drapings or festoons, and pylons, extending all along the route from - the railway station to Government House. Allowing for the subsequent resale of much of the material, this schcmc is estimated to cost £2440. It was feared at one time that owing to the scarcity of material and labour the committee's plans could not be carried out, but tho master-builders came to the assistance of the committee, and the original schcmo will be put through. In addition, the Government intend to decorate Parliament and Government Buildings, tho post office, and the railway stations, and other public buildings will probably also be taken in hand.

It is to be hoped that the Government tvill havo some money left over with, which to decorate the public buildings in Christcliureh, and, further, that on this occasion it will eschew tho use of dimly-lighted transparencies, such as those which it employed to adorn the post office and Government Buildings at the Peace celebrations. "We want to amuse tho Prince, but we also want him to laugh with, and not at, us. As for our street decorations, as the City Council is of such economical mind, it behoves the citizens to do what they can privately to give the streets the festive appearance proper to the oocasion. Might we further suggest that those firms which do not possess flags should make good the deficiency. Thfe sky-line of any street in the business parts of the city bristles with flagpoles, from many of which, on occasions of public rejoicing, as often as not, no flags are flown. There should be no bare poles in Christchurch when our future king rides through the city. It is to be presumed that during the next two or three weeks our municipal authorities will see that the city is cleaned up in preparation for the Royal visit. It is high time that the job was taken in hand, for of late the streets have presented an untidy and neglected appearance which, it must be admitted, is not at all usual. The side-channels, in particular, need looking after. Some of them are so dirty as to suggest that they are not swept out as often as is desirable. Many of thom are in need of repair; the edges are broken down, and here and there the channel itself has fallen into disrepair. Grass is excellent in its proper place, but it is decidedly out of place in a central thoroughfare, and there is quite a good "bite" on the edge of the channel, within 'a stone's-tlirow of the Cathedral. In short, Christch'urch streets have lost the trim appearance thev formerlv possessed, and require more attention.

Of the "Western nations, the Americans are notoriously the only people who have as a community benefited financially by the war. This year, however, England and France have an opportunity of "getting back a little bio of their own." For by March tho advance-guard of what is expected to be the biggest eastward rush of Americans that has ever been known had already reached London. Sir Martin Conway has predicted that these Transatlantic tourists will spend this year £130,000,000 in England and France. "I have no means of checking the statement," commented a tourist agency official, "but I hope he is right. There is no doubt the American tourists will come bursting with money. For five years they have not been able to travel, and in tho interval they have been piling up the dollars all the time." Beforo March sot in New York bookings indicated that the number of tourists would only be limited by the number of steamers available for carrying them. It was calculated that the average trip would last six weeks, of which a fortnight would be spent in France and Flanders, for tho purpose of visiting the battlefields, leaving a fortnight to ho spent in the Old Country. London will, therefore, be more crowded than ever during the coming summer, and v it was predicted that tourists who did not take the precaution to book rooms well ahead would probably hare to sleep in taxis, in snito of the 350 English hotels, with 40,C00 beds, that aro making special preparations to meet the rush.

The housing difficulty has becomo one of the recognised "horrors of peace." Houses cost, to buy, anything from 50 per cent, to 100 per cent, more than boforo the war; houses that can be rented are almost non-existent. Such comfort, however, as may be extracted from the knowledge that others are worse off than ourselves is afforded by the conditions in New York. We here are becoming familiar with advertisements offering sums ranging from £1 to £5 for information that will enable tho advertiser to rent a house, but in New York such appeals are common in every paper. Apartment houses, corresponding with the British flats, are gold mines, and it is pointed out as a sign of the times, that whereas a landlord with apartmont houses to sell would in former times enlarge upon the number of long leases to run, assuring a full house for some time, nowadays he stresses tho number of leases duo to fall in, thus furnishing an opportunity to raise the tenants' rents. Another innovation was sprung on unfortunate

house-hunters lately l>y a man who had six houses available for renting in a suburb fifteen miles from the city. His announcement that on a certain date he ■would ''"auction the rents" packed the loca] hotel on the preceding night with prospective tenants, and enabled him to secure an average rental of £31a year. Owners of seaside "shacks" — "baches" of three or four rooms, barelv furnished —are asking .-€l2O for them for the four summer months!