YULETIDE OVERSEAS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 25, 27 December 1932, Page 7

YULETIDE OVERSEAS

LONDON SHROUDED IN FOG. CHAIN OF GOODWILL MESSAGES. SUCCESS OF EMPIRE BROADCAST. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) LONDON, Dec. 25. Fog shrouded the cold deserted London streets, but there was brighter weather in other parts of Britain > for Christmas. Despite Christmas falling on Sun- < day, tho Post Office arranged, a de- ; livery of mails from overseas which delighted Australians and New Zealanders living in London, and brought a last-minute batch of Antipodean greetings. While digesting their Christmas dinner British listeners heard the i 8.8. C. Empire broadcast which pre- < ceded the King’s message. Reciprocated messages of goodwill 1 came from Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and Dublin; then from the liner Majestic, which was nearing New York; then in a series from Can- ; adiau towns, after which Wellington, Sydney Melbourne and Brisbane responded. The speakers were heard perfectly. COLD WEATHER ON BOXING DAY. Received December 27, 12 noon. LONDON, Dec. 26. 1 Cold weather and a depressing fog 1 characterised Boxing Day. It covered 1 most of England and Wales, but Scot- « land was free. The fog was not thick enough to interfere with holiday travelling, though motoring was difficult on crowded suburban roads. GOOD TRADE PERIOD. < IN SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE. SYDNEY, Dec. 26. The Christmas trade is generally acknowledged to have been much heavier than last year. A typical remark of shopkeepers in Sydney and 1 Melbourne is: “It is wonderful where < the money came''from.” The city streets were choked with pedestrian and car traffic. Wet, cheerless weather spoiled the week-end in Victoria. It was dull 1 and overcast in South Australia, but 1 ideal autumn-like conditions prevailed ; in Sydney. A unique feature of the week-end weather in the country was that snow fell on the highlands and at Ivoskiusko, enabling holiday, visitors to indulge in snow sports, while topcoats were necessary on Saturday in such places at Lithgow, Katoomba and Orange. CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA. NATION IN CHASTENED MOOD. i NEW YORK, Dec. 25. Americans celebrated Christmas 1 in the chastened mood which they 1 had carried over from 1931. There 1 were none of tho financial and industrial bonus payments which were a feature of the’" Christmases of boom years. Wall Street not only paid no bonuses, but, under a new ruling of the Stock Exchange authorities, even the distribution of nominal gifts, such as cigars, was prohibited. Large cities saw monster queues of ■ homeless people fed by. charitable and ■ relief organisations. The shsgan “None shall go hungry” was scrupulously carried out, but the strain on the aiding organisations’ facilities and 1 funds was extremely great. There were little or no celebrations < of a gay nature. • Not a single ’case of wood alcohol poisoning was reported, and only a few cases of alcoholism were reported at hospitals in large cities. MINE DISASTER. Seasonal fatal accidents were unusually small in number one sad event, however, having a depressing effect on the nation. Fifty-four miners were imprisoned in a gas-filled mine after an explosion. Twelve bodies were recovered, and the remainder are still underground at Moweaque, Illinois. Mr John Millliouse, Director of the State Department of Mines and Minerals, said that if the men were fortu- ■ Hate enough to have barricaded them- , selves in they might have escaped the , deadly mine damp and could be got to , safety. RADIO CHRISTMAS. 1 AN IMPRESSION OF EUROPE. NEW YORK, Dec. 26. j The New York Times’s Paris cones- - pondent says that Europe had a radio < Christmas, with the Te Deum Lauda- , mus, “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to ■ Men.” From every point of the com- j pass on Christmas morning it came in , over tho wireless. Cracow, in Poland, • began the chorus and there was a fanfare of trumpets from the cathedral of Notre Dame. Prague, with its hundreds of bells, took up the hymn of praise and from somewhere there came tho strains of a great organ. Vienna joined with the service at the Church of Saint Stephen. Weingarten, in the Black Forest, was next to be heard and Algiers and Saint Jean De Lux responded. Then London’s Christmas carols were heard, and later in the day , the King’s remarkable Dominion-wide . broadcast. ] THE EX-KAISER’S CHRISTMAS. ]

LONDON, Dec. 26. At Doom the ex-Kaiser spent Christmas undergoing treatment for a severe attack of rheumatism.