FREE SPENDING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20070, 17 October 1939, Page 5

FREE SPENDING

SOLDIERS ON LEAVE BENEFIT TO BUSINESS Most Wellington city hotels on Saturday seemed to transform themselves into “wet canteens.” There were soldiers in every bar, free-spending in the way of soldiers the world over, merry and for the most part good tempered. They have not had a pay day yet—though they will before the Trentham races—but none seemed to lack that which makes the wheels of pleasure turn. In the aggregate they must have poured hundreds of pounds into the hotel cash registers in the two weekends of the fortnight that the mobilisation camp has existed at Trentham. Not all soldiers sought the bars for pleasure. The picture houses got their share of men; so did the trams and taxis for trips to places of interest m and around the city. After the matinees were out and the bars closed there were hundreds of hungry men, their appetites as keen as only those of fit men can be, crowding the restaurants. At night the civilian had to contend with the lure of a uniform when seeking the favours of a dance at the public halls. No one can beat the soldier as a willing spender and these hundreds of men who flock to the city at the week-ends will speed up business among those catering for their interests.