CASH COSTS OF EPIDEMIC

Evening Star, Issue 20780, 30 April 1931, Page 6

CASH COSTS OF EPIDEMIC

WHAT CLOSING OF ALDERSHOT MEANT A special meeting oE Aldershot Chamber of Commerce was, held recently to consider the plight of the local tradesmen owing to the outbreak of spotted fever in the famous military camp. Tlie usually thronged shopping centres of the town had been almost deserted for the previous three weeks. Shopkeepers declared that their losses had been £5,000 a week. A number of shopkeepers showed mo letters and telegrams from_ customers saying they had to buy their goods in neighbouring towns while the epidemic lasted (writes a ‘ Sunday Express ’ representative). In some oases food and other necessities were being telephoned for by people afraid to visit the town. The social life of the town, too, was paralysed. One public function after another was abandoned.

The troops were forbidden to organise dances and other indoor entertainments. Piiblic dances were permitted in the town itself, but the most popular dances were those held in the two large halls within the barracks, and these halls were closed. Two cinemas in the barracks area were closed.