THE NEW YEAR

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 84, 3 January 1929, Page 9

THE NEW YEAR

NEW YORK’S NOISY & WET CELEBRATION (Australian Press Association.) New York, January 1. The New Year celebration was noisy and “wet” until midnight, after which ’.t became subdued, because of a police raiding squad, supplemented by a large force of Federal agents, who entered approximately thirty night clubs, and saloons -within ap hour. Some of these were most popular Broadway resorts, with the result that the streets were soon filled with revellers hurrying homewards long before the expected time, despite the fact that some had paid as much as 100 dollars for reservations. However, up to midnight, it was probably the “wettest” New Year’s Eve since Prohibition. The theatres, night clubs, aud hotels had been sold out for a week, and it is estimated that 100,000 persons from other cities came to New York for the festivities. Liquor was plentiful in other sections of the United States, but the combined forces of Federal, City, and State officials made the celebration one of the quietest in the history of the country. All public parties were abandoned before 1 o’clock in some southern centres, by order of the authorities, owing to the danger of spreading influenza.