CARNIVAL WEEK IN THE CITY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21314, 6 November 1934, Page 17

CARNIVAL WEEK IN THE CITY

♦ CLOSING OF OFFICES LAWYERS AM) OTHERS ONHOLIDAY The legal profession is characteristically meticulous in its observance of Carnival Week. In fact, that section of people which is vaguely defined as the business community decides unanimously in the first week of November that Spring has come, and that the old office coat must be put away for a season. Not that there is any general exodus to the racecourses. Many offices remain open, and the banks allow themselves only one day, Friday, which is People's Day at the show. Yesterday there was a perceptible slackening of the usual commercial and legal traffic in Hereford street, and several closed doors announced that "this office will be closed this week on the following days . . . • Disappointment waits for the man who for any reason at all decides on an afternoon of Carnival Week to "Put the matter in the hands of mv solicitor," for the excellent reason that "my solicitor'' has realised that it is no time for the dull business of title-deeds, briefs and mortgages when figures more fascinating than any ledger can afford are being computed on the totalisators at Riccarton and Addington, and bright colours in the stands and on the courses contrast with the monotony of office walls and city streets. In any case there is little need to keep full office hours as the motto for the week is "pleasure before business," and the holiday spirit conditions every city activity. Last voar the banks were opened for half a day on the Friday holiday, but. as it was stated in one bank yesterday, so few people came in that the concession to business seemed scarcely worth while. For a time there will be fewer cars nosing the kerb in Hereford street, fewer strolling clerks carrying neatly red-taped documents, and fewer errant bicycles flitting between offices, banks, and Government buildings. And it is to be hoped that not too many telephones will ring in empty rooms.