QUEST FOR SOUVENIRS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 24 December 1925, Page 15

QUEST FOR SOUVENIRS

AMERICANS IN THE SHOPS. SOME CURRENCY PROBLEMS. What the tour programme calls “independent action/’ was the order of Monday, afternoon for the Carinthia’s passengers, says the “New Zealand Herald.” In other words, they were left to their own devices after the morning’s sightseeing trip. Most of them spent an hour or so shopping in Queen Street. Some, indeed, had been so keen t< buy souvenirs that they had let the morning excursion go off without them. Picture postcards ami greenstone were the things most in demand. Though besieged by crowds of ordinary Now Zealand Christmas shoppers, the salespeople gave the Americans, especially the ladies, very courteous

and patient attention. Apparently the tourists had not had facilities for changing American money into British, but the shop people were prepared, and dollar bills were accepted everywhere at the rough-and-ready exchange rate of five dollars to the pound. That did not avoid trouble, however, for in dozens of shops American ladies could bo heard arguing currency questions with the people behind the counter. The ladies, although not their menfolk as a rule, seemed rather afraid of being “had.” At all events they went in for much complicated mental arithmetic before agreeing to buy anything. In general, the ladies seemed cither suspicious or fond of bargaining, and wore prone to question the prices asked. They had often to be assured that New Zealand was not a free-trade country, and that imported articles were apt to be dearer than in Groat Britain or the United States.

The quest of greenstone souvenirs began for many of them as soon as the shops opened. Miniature tikis, brooches and small ornaments were purchased most freely by the visitors. They evidently wanted souvenirs rather than articles of value. .In picture postcards, their taste r a only to views of Auckland City and Maori subjects View-booklets they rejected, for some reason unknown. There was practically no demand for books on

New Zealand. In addition to souven- ' irs, many bought Christmas gifts, vahii able and otherwise, for friends or relaI tives on board the ship. Some pur- > chased boxes of strawberries and ! bunches of flowers. Needless to say, ■ the soda-fountains and ice-cream parlours did a fairly good trade. : On the ■whole, it seems likely that I the visitors. are spending more money I on meals, motor-car rides and other inj cidentals than on goods from the shops.