CORRESPONDENCE MARKETS AND FAIRS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2313, 2 September 1881, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE

MARKETS AND FAIRS.

To the Editor of the Globe. Sir, —A short time since there was some talk in the City Council about erecting a market-place. As nothing has been said about it lately, and the matter is in abeyance, perhaps it would be as well to Inquire whether, under the present system of conducting business, and in Ohriatchurch in particular, such an institution as a public market is required. In years gone by, in England and other countries, almost every considerable-sized town had its marketplace, aud certain days In the week proclaimed aa market-days. Then the housekeeper, or some member of the family, had to bestir and visit the market, in all sorts of weather, to provide necessaries, or otherwise be denied the pleasure of having good butter, choice poultry, vegetables, and many requisites for a family. Now, in Christchurch, without leaving her residence, the housekeeper has everything brought to her door. The butcher, baker, greengrocer, poultryman, and fishmonger are all ready to supply her needa with regularity. Under such circumstances aa those last named it is doubtful if a market-place ia required. The facility for intercourse has made a great ohange in the management of business generally. When fairs and markets were established the means of intercourse were restricted, and it was neoessary in many places to lay In a stock of goods at the annual fairs sufficient to last till the next annual gatherings. It is only in those parts of Asia aud Europe where Improvements are slowly made and the means of intercourse deficient that fairs are of any use. They have long ceased to be of any utility in England, except perhaps the cattle fairs, and they will soon be obsolete, as cattle can be carried cheaper by rail than they can be driven. The most notable fairs at present are those of Leipsic (for books) and Frankfort, in Germany, and Nijni-Novgerod, in Russia. At the latter place it has been customary for at least a million strangers to visit the fair each year, from many parts of Asia and Europe, with almost every kind of commodity required for consumption and use. But even the great Russian fair begins to show signs of falling fjoff. Bailroads, which enable the merchants in London to receive goods from Manchester the same day as ordered, will so facilitate business In the Russian dominions that people will not be obliged to leave their homes for weeks to attend the fairs With regard to markets, we must consider that in such places as Constantinople, Cairo, and many other places under the old Asiatic and Eastern European system, the bazaars or markets are the places where all the trades are congregated. The streets of suoh towns present to the traveller a series of dead walls. Christchurch and other cities of our own, and in many parts of Europe, are nearly all market and bazaar—almost every building is a shop of some kind. Therefore, I beg to say, let the authorities be very cautious in laying out money on a market place, and be sure not to build it where there is not a regular thoroughfare. My own belief is that if a row of shops were substantially built where the wooden buildings now are, between Armagh street and "Victoria bridge, and a row on the opposite side of the road, with neat colonnades, they would be quite snffi cient, and would be let to advantage, because it must always be a busy thoroughfare. In Auckland, some years ago, there was an outcry for a market, many farmers even supposing it would enable them to sell their produce to advantage. What was the result ? For two or three weeks after the market was finished two farmers had representatives there, and then they disappeared, aud the market was occupied by a Chinaman, two grocers, a butcher, and a few small dealers ; and because it was not a general thoroughfare, the business was infinitesimal. Yours, &c, CIVILIAN.