PREPARING FOR XMAS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17918, 24 October 1932, Page 11

PREPARING FOR XMAS

SHOPPING IN SYDNEY "THRIFT CLUBS" THE LATEST SYDNEY, Oct. 5. That Christmas is very yearly with us is apparent by the announcement on shop windows to come inside and join “Our .Ham Club” or “Christmas Hamper Club,” or the newest of aR ‘.‘Christmas'Thrift .Clubs,” 2s down and whatever you like afterwards, and choose Christmas cheer to the amount of the thrift from the shelves of the shop. There must lie money in circulation, for many shops are. rapidly booking up members and orders. The most noticeable thing, however, is the fall in prices. Turkeys can be booked at Is 6d per lb. dead weight. They are just out of the shell; and are being rushed up with fattening food to get them to the 7 ol 101 b. handy-si zed birds. The price is a drop of about Is 6d a lb. Hams are also being offered at a considerable reduction, the price being about Is 6d. It may be less as the pigs come in. One firm is offering SQOO hams,, and has been nearly booked, opt. The cake and .the pudding have not yet emerged from tl.ie chrysalis, but judging from the price of block cake, which is being sold by the hundred tons daily—a great deal- of it coming from Victoria—the' Christmas cake and Christmas pudding are likely to show a fall of Is or more in price. It is quite evident that the barometer has been set fair owing to the almost daily gradual absorbance of the unemployed, mostly on,relief work, which has brought in its train increased work in other industries,, and not the least ol these the, manufacture of. Christmas cheer. Everywhere there is a buoyancy of feeling and a briskness on the part of the. public in attacking bargains-in the food and clothing, line. The old regime in business, which drew a- line ps to the nature of the goods to bo stocked, has passed away. Uur most exclusive business houses now stock food and clothing, and you can order a 4J,d roast rabbit, done to a nice brown, with the six yards of crepe-de-chine or an ermine stole; or a 9d bottle of oysters, with the latest in shoes or hats. Food and raiment are jostling each other in the most exclusive shops, where Christmas orders are being booked already.