CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE HAS GROWN GAY IN BRITAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 December 1950, Page 5

CHRISTMAS ATMOSPHERE HAS GROWN GAY IN BRITAIN

Big Tree Towers Trafalgar Square

LONDON, December 22 (Reed. 6 p.m.).—Christmas came to London in earnest with the switching on of lights of a. Christmas tree towering- above the Trafalgar Square fountains—Norway’s annual gesture of friendship, which brings an extra touch of fairyland to the centre of the city where each night during the Christmas week thousands gather to sing enrols.

tl = e The proverbial Christmas ■ ‘silly season,” when press and y politicans, though unable to fort get such things as Korea>, Russia, . Germany and economic questions, - try to put them at the back of 1 their minds, seems to have started e and the public finds itself pleased to read the same old tale of the policeman escorting ducks across the road, the story of the national health scheme dentist who would not extract & patient’s tooth because he was not wearing a tie, and vivid details of how Britain’s film stars intend spending Christmas. Cabinet Ministers, one by one, are following Mr Attlee’s example in setting out for country homes. Officially they are “on call,” but few of them will be in London over the festive season. The weather man is on the side of those hoping for a white Christmas. He says that colder weather is on the way and most parts of the country, including London, probably will have plenty of snow. The railways report that Christmas travel records will be broken in the next ten days. But all over the world Christmas shoppers are saying: “Phew! What prices!” Prices, however, have not prevented ea remarkable burst of spending in • London, where withdrawals this week from the Post Office and banks ex- : ceeded deposits by more than £4,000,000. A fortnight ago shopkeepers were complaining that customers were looking more than buying, but they now say a sudden buying spree has sent their receipts soaring. More money is being spent than last year, which the financial experts warned would be the final fling before “purse .

austerity” took hold. Credit traders state that more people than ever are buying Christmas goods for which they will not have finished paying for till next May. The chief complaint by people buying tor adults is high prices. There are plenty of gifts above 12 but very few between £1 and £2. There has been an unusually heavy demand for Christmas cards and it is estimated that £5,000,000 already has been spent on them. Incidentally, of this amount the Chancellor of the Exchequer takes £2,000,000 in purchase tax; manufacturers take a like amount and the shops where the cards are bought get the odd £1,000,000 left. The Post Office received thousands of letters for “Santa Claus, Greenland, Denmark,” and has duly posted them on. They arrive at the headquarters of the Danish Tourist Association, from whom the children get a reply assuring them that they will do what they can about presents, “provided, of course, you are good and well behaved,” and sending them a four-page story by Hans Andersen and a view of Greenland. Hundreds of cards, too, are going to the children’s corner of Regent’s Park Zoo, addressed to the children’s favourites, “Billy the Seep” and "Larry the Llama.”