AUCKLAND HAPPENINGS.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 18 September 1919, Page 4

AUCKLAND HAPPENINGS.

[From Our Own Correspondent!,

SUNDAY EVENINGS FOR

THE PEOPLE.

Auckland city fathers have just consented to allow a couple of Sunday evening entertainments to take place in this city, with the understanding that the holding of further entertainments of the kind shall be refened to the Finance and Legal Committees of the Council to consider. The entertainments are to be held under the auspices of the N.Z. Labour Party, and comprise lectures, interspersed with instrumental and vocal items. I see no harm, myself, in Sunday evening entertainments, so long as they are not used for political purposes. But that, no doubt, is precisely what the Labour Party propose. They want to influence public opinion in view of the approaching general election. But if the City Council finally approves of these Sunday night entertainments —an extended series of them, I mean —I cannot see how the Council can consistently refuse to sanction the holding of Sunday evening pictureshows. There's many a "movie" sermon screened that is calculated to do more good than some sermons preached from the pulpit.

PRICES

One can hardly take up a newspaper nowadays, without reading tbat some necessary of existence has " gone up " —or is "going up." Tea is the latest instance of this kind of thing. It is now announced that tea will be selling at 3/- per lb in Auckland soon. Rice is so "short" in this market that the price has advanced from 2d or 2^d per lb to 6d, and it is thought likely that it will go higher yet. It is only to be had in small quantities at the present moment. Before the war a "square-rigger" of methylated spirit could be bought in Auckland for 6d. They are now charging 13 for about half the quantity. The people in England are worse off than we are —if that is any consolation. A-private letter just received in Auckland relates how the writer and two friends visited a London confectioner's for afternoon tea. The party was supplied with three small cups of the beverage and a few small cakes. On asking what was to pay they were told 10 6.

TROOPSHIP "TUCKER."

The quality of the tucker served out to soldiers returning by many of the troopships has given rise to a good deal of dissatisfaction (writes my Wellington colleague), and the growling abroad the Matatua has been both loud and deep. Fancy 400 i men "fed up" with liver, refusing to eat any more of it the last time it made its appearance at breakfast, and solemnly consigning it to the deep while the Band played the " Dead March," They declared they weren't going to stand any more " 1914 liver." On another troopship, it is said, the tea was made with salt water. And yet the Government, it seems, is paying £18 per head for the food and passage of these j returning warriors, some of whom at any rate so. far as food goes, were better off in the trenches !

IMITATION TWEEDS

Real " all-wool " suitings are almost as hard to find in Auckland to-day as ten-pound notes. And yet when I entered a wholesale soft goods warehouse the other day I found the shelves and fixtures chock-a-block with what looked Jike a splendid collection of woollens of the best quality. But things are not always what they seem, and I found on closer inspection that these materials were only cotton imitations of the real thing. They come from America and also from Japan, and although there is not a thread of wool in them the prices at which they are sold are actually higher than those asked for the best worsteds before the war. Mercery lines are also fearfully expensive now. Most of the men's ties are either all cotton or 75 per cent cotton. Yet they cost as much as good silk ties formerly retailed at. Linen collars formerly costing 6/- per doz. wholesale now sell at 12/-, and a further advance is certain. i Shirts have also doubled in price j —ditto hats, and gloves are hard to get, and while the qaulity in many cases seems to have deteriorated the prices have gone up alarmingly.