HOTELS TO CLOSE

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 39, 15 August 1945, Page 8

HOTELS TO CLOSE

At the request of the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) hotels throughout New Zealand will close tomorrow between 10.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.

the Hutt Valley, and the expectant but quiet.atmosphere of but a minute before was turned into one of wholehearted relief and rejoicing. Notwithstanding the wet weather, crowds poured into the streets, blowing whistles, waving rattles, and wearing paper caps which appeared as if by magic. Among the first to enter into the spirit of things were some office girls who started to dance on. the back of a large truck in the middle of High Street, Lower Hutt. Others soon followed their example, and crowds which at first milled around aimlessly soon adopted the community spirit, perfect strangers linking hands and joining in the general merriment. Sometimes a more sombre note was struck. Some men, perhaps with sons overseas, rushed uy to others in uniform and shook them by the hand. "Good job done, boy," one of them was heard to say to a returned man. Nor were other nationalities forgotten. One young woman, bursting with enthusiasm, ran down the street crying, "Hooray! Hooray! My Yank's coming home!" Flags and bunting appeared on buildings throughout the Hutt and Petone, and before long bands made their appearance, leading singing, marching crowds through the streets. Housewives whose domestic duties were placed before their celebrations poured into butchers' and bakers' shops, making last-minute efforts to obtain supplies for the celebration period. In the Lower Hutt Court Mr. A. M. Goulding, S.M., was hearing domestic cases when the news came through. Sirens suddenly blared from the Fire Station a few yards down the road. A case was just finishing, and Mr. Goulding quickly appreciated the sentiments of those about him. "I am not going to make a speech," he said. "All citizens will be anxious to join in the celebrations which are now taking place, and I will formally adjourn the Court." The celebrations, as announced previously, will be continued in the main streets of Petone and Lower Hutt tonight. If the weather is suitable at the time, Petone's big bonfire on the foreshore near Beach Street will shed over the harbour a light symbolical of the people's joy and of the removal of the Asiatic shadow which for so long has clouded the minds of all who will witness it.