CHRISTMAS IN STRIKE-TIME.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 697, 23 December 1909, Page 4

CHRISTMAS IN STRIKE-TIME.

Sydney womon aio finding moro fcimo those strike days (or rathor weeks) ( to look after their htmes than they have done for many years i (writes "Cnstina" in tho "Australasian") Ac- <■,'' oustomed to go out daily to altornoon teas or to bridge parties thov allowed many things to < ■> pass whi"h they can now suponiso and attend ' to properly lor, as nobody feels inohned to ' give parties, there are no parties to go to ' \Yhat would he tho use of inviting , peoplo'to your house, since there aie few, if any, trams ' tir trains to take them there? All the services hiivo been , cnrtailcd to such an extent that gst- ■> ting about is too uncomfortable to be borne, accept by thoEe who are obliged to travel . When ladies do go into town to shop or buy 1 ' Christmas fresents , , they take good care to get back homo before five When the workers v > begin to quit their placee of qccupation for N the day, the infroijuent and slow]} -moving trams and boats are- crowded to over-flowing There for ladies considerably—or ia it uelhshly— ' ' stajr away. Strange doings aro ascribed to the ' strike People who cannot claim,to bo in any L s > way affectou, refuse to pay their bills—this "on \< -« account of tho etrjkp, they say. Thero iis 1 an unsettled feeling m the air (not only with < regard to bills). Some famihos have left town < v iot-i summer resorts, but the majority prefer ' t) remain iin Sydney to "see it through" v, j Country Bhops are, to some extent, profiting by the stnko, for country folk, under existi ing conditions, dp not care to come to Syanoy , for Christmas, and Christmas faro in inland ■ townships is selling well Here, according ty \ ill accounts, it is quito otherwise.