"FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED'

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 259, 29 July 1919, Page 4

"FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED'

A QUEUE IN THE RAIN

That the domestic demand for coal ia as acut© as ever was brought home to many whose business took them down Lower Cuba Street yesterday morning. The very small State Coal Office was again open for the receipt of cash orders, and as only a few could actually get into the ollice at one time, the rest of the crowd had (o form up in queue in the drenching rain and bitterly cold wind to await their turn to give their orders. It was really a pitiful sight, more especially when it was realised that when those people—most of them women—did reach their homes, there would not be the comfort of; a good fire to restore animation. What is wanted is a largo office, with two doors, so that more peoplo could be accommodated, and as they registered their order, could pass out through another door.

Ihe Mayor (Jlr. J; P. Luke), who witnessed the distressing scene, communicated with the manager of the State Coal Depot offering, oil behalf of the City Council, to place the Town Hall at the disposal of the Department for tho purpose of taking orders and so obviating tha necessity of people standing in the rain. Later iu the day tho offer was accepted, and the new arrangement brought into force.