THE GIFT SEASON.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18263, 23 December 1924, Page 10

THE GIFT SEASON.

♦ —— HEAVY BUYING THIS CHRISTMAS.

Tlic Christmas rush on the Post Office set in in earnest yesterday, the crush of people, the great majority of whom were of the bargain-buying sex, being reminiscent of the crowd awaiting the opening of a departmental store on sale day, or of first-nighters buying pantomime day sales. A person of the "other" sex, who had long since forgotten tho virtuous glow to be derived from "giving" at Christmas, asked with a grin, as ho watched the tide of femininity surging around the Post Office steps, "What's on inside? Budolf Valentino I" All the afternoon scores of people swarmed up the steps, worked their way through tho tightly-packed throng in the vestibule, and at last found a place in tho fourth rank from the counter, there to await the time when a clerk's glance could be eaught attd held in a stare which would not relent until three penny stamps had been duly handed over. Then came the process of wriggling one's way backwards through tho four ranks which had formed in the rear, a slow, shuffling march back to the vestibule to the "inward and outward" letterboxes where one again waited one's turn—unless, of course, one were young and pretty and had bobbed hair, for in that case a smile would bring some parccl-laden man to one's aid. And throughout tho struggle not one voice was raised to cry aloud against the iniquity of a State which condemned its people to such inadequate post office facilities. Evidently the goodwill engendered by the festive season extends even unto Governments and Government officials. The extraordinary postal business being done this week is a fair indication of the buoyancy of the Christmas trade. "It exceeds all expectations," said the booksellers yesterday., when asked how trade, was. "We anticipated that there would be a rush the last three days, but we didn't anticipate anything like this." The jewellers had a similar report to make. Trade in that line is quite ahead of last year's. Smaller articles are being displayed and sought after this year than formerly, but the people are spending their money freely, and the returns from sales are well in excess of those for last Christmas. The drapers also find trade brisk. The shops are busier than usual, even for this season of the year, and it is expected that the returns for the three days prior to Christmas will be heavier than those for the corresponding period in 1923.