CHRISTMAS TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14249, 21 December 1909, Page 6

CHRISTMAS TRADE.

A GOOD-WEEK ANTICIPATED.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC INCREASING.

The crowded appearance of Queen-street yesterday indicated that the influx of visitors for the , Christmas holidays has commenced, and that this is so is fully borne out by the railway and steamer returns and the inquiries made at hotels and boardinghouses for accommodation. A good many visitors have arrived from the country, and the crowd in Queen-street yesterday afternoon was on the whole a holiday one, possessed with the idea of enjoying itself and acquiring some of the many tempting articles which hung in the shop windows. In consequence business was good ; in fact, shopkeepers report that it was of an unexpected and very satisfactory volume. One leading firm of drapers state that right from nine a.m. the counters were crowded, and the assistants were at times barely able to cope with the rush. Generally shopkeepers found yesterday the best day of the Christmas season so far, and it is expected that the volume of business will steadily increase for the remainder of the weekThe approach of Christmas week was viewed yith trepidation by a good many business men, who feared that it would not be so good for their banking account as usual. During the last few months, however, money lias gradually become freer, and the success which has attended the great majority of agriculturists this season has been reflected in the orders of those firms doing a country business. . Christmas trade in the city is almost confined to the week, but the brisk buying of yesterday indicates that the city business will be as satisfactory as the country. The general expectation now is that Christmas trade will be up to the average of last year, which was particularly good. Some retailers eay that the business done for the whole of 1969 will hardly equal that done in 1908, owing to the temporary dulness in the winter, but comparing the two Christmas weeks this year will hold its own with last. A considerable number of people reached Auckland by the coastal steamers yesterday and a large number by train. Both expresses from the South were well patronised. When the morning express reached Frankton it had 200 people on board, anji about the same number arrived by the second express. The outgoing trains were also well filled. The morning express for Wellington took away a large complement, and by the time it reached Frankton the passengers picked up en route had "swelled the number to about 300. The express for Rotorua was also well patronised, and about 250 left by the evening express for Wellington and intermediate stations.