CHRISTMAS GAIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1923, Page 5

CHRISTMAS GAIETY.

SCENES IN MANY LANDS. QUIET TIME IN LONDON. ONLY TWO PANTOMIMES. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Dec. 26, 8.15 p.m. London, Dec. 25. Christmas Day was extraordinarily quiet. Omnibuses and trams were withdrawn from the streets at four p.m. and taxicab drivers, who reaped a rich harvest, saved the streets from appearing strangely desolate. The churches were crowded during the morning and there were a few football matches, which attracted their usual excited crowds. The theatres, however, were closed. The weather was strangely good, it having cleared up. A curious feature of London’s Christmas this year is the decline in shopping, while in pantomimes there are only two— Jack and the Beanstalk at the Lyceum, and Dick Whittington at the Palladium, but neither are attracting the old time hosts of children. Real pantomime seems over and children’s plays have taken its place. CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA. A GLORIOUS PICTURE. OF BOUNTEOUS PLENTY. Received Dec. 26, 9.30 p.m. New York, Dec. 25. The New York Times, in its news columns, states that the Christmas 1923 will long be remembered as one of bounteous plenty for i4ew York citv and for the wide extent of happiness enjoyed by men. women and children and of all sorts and conditions. This day has, probably, never been attained in previous seasons. The city was aflame with Christmas cheer. It permeated the darkest tenement on the lower east side as well as the pretentious homes of the wealthy. It illuminated dreary hospital wards and brightened dark prison cells. It was the Christmas of a period of prosperity. Christmas throughout America, from all accounts, appears to have been on the same scale. GAY TIME IN PARIS. FEASTING AT HIGH PRICES. Received Dec. 26. 9.30 p.m. Paris, Dec. 25.

Paris woke up this afternoon after a notable Christmas Eve, which the cheap French paper franc made the gayest, probably, since the armistice. Revellers, who included some of the most illustrious names on the social record, simply monopolised the more expensive restaurants and paid extraordinary prices for food, drink and entertainment. It it estimated that the minimum charge for a party of three amounted to £lOO, and that the city consumed 200,000 quarts of champagne during the evening. AT THE VATICAN. Received Dec. 26, 1.25 p.m. Rome, Dec. 25. The Pope celebrated Christmas solemnly at the Vatican, beginning with midnight Mass, which bas said by the sacristan (Monseignor Zampini). The Pope received an immense number of letters and telegrams, many of these expressing thanks for his efforts to bring peace and good will to the world. CHRISTMAS EVE IN SYDNEY. Received Dec. 25, 5.5 p.m. Sydney, Dee. 25. Christmas Eve was spent tamely and was practically devoid of incident. The late shopping night absorbed onsiderable numbers of workers and shoppers, thus minimising the congestion in the city thoroughfares. Unsettled conditions throughout the State were responsible for an unauaUy cool temperature for midsummer, but there is a tendency towards sultriness with prospects of rain over the holidays.