CHRISTMAS TRADE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2339, 22 December 1914, Page 6

CHRISTMAS TRADE

SATISFACTORY IN WELLINGTON BUSY DAYS IN THE CITY Saturday was an excellent test as tit what tho condition of trade is likely to be in Wellington at Christmas. From i ' n< J u >rie6 made amongst the retail business houses it was ascertained that thero is not likely to bo much cause for complaint during tho turmoil of the next few davs. In, August last it was imagined that the' outbreak of war was going to have a very serious eilect on trade generally but so thoroughly have the seas been cleared and so eftectually has confidence been restored, that practically normal conditions prevail. At one time it was said that the blockade of Germany would deprive us ot many thingj, nothing of greater moment at this time of the year than children s toys. For many years past Germany has been the Santa Claus of the civilised world. Santa Claus has nlled his sacks with the rubbish of Nuremberg, and has emptied' it into the stockings of the Western nations, not, however, in the Christmas spirit, but in the keenest of commercial spirits, l arents of experience know the worth ot German toys—three days and out is the term of their existence. English manufacturers did not think they could compete, yet they now find that they can make the toys twice a3 strong as the German ones, and at the same cost to the retailer. In tho case of our own warehouses, most of their Christmas orders wore either here or on the water, when the war god sounded his gong, and there is the usual plenitude of toys available—particularly to tl'osa who make no objection to the imprint Made in Germany." The toy shops did a very lively trade on Saturday evening, as the seasonable c amour in tho streets indicated. Amonc the shoppers noticeable were a large number of troopers, on leave from the camp at Trentham, who were not forgetting the old or tho young folks at home.

The drapers, who had a, rather bad run in late winter and spring, state that business has for a couple of months past been normal, and the approach of Christmas has given quite a fillip to trade. A late summer has brought a big lato demand for "whites" for ladies—white dresses, white felt hats, stookings, shoes—and there is also a deiaana for the well cut cotton costumes that ■ are now enjoying a vogue. The promise is for a Christmas everv bit as busy as last year. Booksellers and stationers, who trade in the daintily-coloured Christinas card, the insinuative postcard, the fancy almanao, and the "poets," have no complaint to make. There is a well defined preference for goods having soma application to the war, and almanacs and cards with photographs of ..our naval and military heads are in great favour with the general public. Thera is a fine martial flavour about many cf the postcards.

It is hardly'necessary to go into de. tails over the wonders that assail tho oyo in the grocery, provision, and pastrycooks' shops, which are modem •horns of plenty; just simply exuding the spirit of Christmas. So busy wero those in this line of business on Saturday, night that they had not time to talk about it. The public were as eager to buy as the household purveyors wero to sell, so that everyone was 6atisfled. Prices are up, the war is on,-, but Christmas is here! Why worry?