SPIRIT MAINTAINED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20648, 26 December 1941, Page 2

SPIRIT MAINTAINED

XMAS IN AUSTRALIA SOCIAL READJUSTMENTS TRAVEL REDUCTIONS (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Dec. 20, 10 a.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 25 Severe war-time restrictions did little more than upset the Christmas holiday travel arrangements of the people'of the Commonwealth and the festive spirit was well maintained and Christmas trade was well up to the standard of previous years, despite the limitation on luxury goods ind the curtailment of shopping hours. A surprising feature is the facility with which the citizens are adapting themselves to the changed conditions brought about by the Government’s security decrees which had radically altered the domestic and social life of the community. Thousands of homes in the past two weeks have been broken up overnight. Mothers and children who were suffering from nervous tension quitted the coastal areas for inland areas, requiring husbands and fathers to make hurried substitute arrangements for their own welfare. This, of course, has had disturbing repercussions on business up and down the coast and a corresponding favourable reflex in the country.

Meanwhile, city businessfolk are doing their best to comply with the Government injunction to protect their properties and the lives of their employees. Evidence of this is seen in the erection of shelters and sandbag barriers and the construction of trenches in parks, with similar emergency devices in and around private homes.

Perhaps the most unappreciated effects of the official decrees arises from the heavy restrictions on transport services and travel which has led to excessive crowding and discomfiture on the curtailed rail and tram services, but which in the course of time is expected to be borne philosophically in the knowledge that it is just part of the coihprehensive plan for placing the country on a full war footing.