THE GAYEST CITY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3711, 21 December 1912, Page 25

THE GAYEST CITY.

Perhaps the gayest city in the world —and certainly not one that we should wish to see London emulate—is situated in the wastes of Siberia. _ An American banker who recently visited Irkutsk gives a surprising account of life in this town of little over 100,000 inhabitants. The cafes never close, and it is between midnight and four in th© morning that they are at their liveliest. Everyone drinks; most of the Russian women smoke cigars. Every type of beauty is to be found geisha girls in native costume are seen vying with Viennese and Parisian women in the latest “creations.’ 1 All the gambling-houses are open under police protection, and the visitor tells us that he has seen as much as £20,000 staked on th© turn of a card a. dozen times in an evening. Wine at £4 a bottle is freely drunk, whilst the opera almost equals that of Paris. Many of the rich inhabitants have been convicts or are descendants of convicts who have amassed wealth in gold-min-ing, but are not allowed to leave the province.