London, May 26.
We call it a wave, but Iam not quite sure whether it is a very big one. We are, however, all pridiag ourselves on the fact not merely that we are restraining our _purchases in order to bring down prices, but that we are spending far less money than usual on our pleasures.
At this time of the year it is customary for the newspapers io send down the reporters to write up holiday stories at the railway stations, describing in lurid terms scenes of the great exodus, how the passengers waited in queues at the booking-offices for half an hour to an hour, how the trains had to be run in duplicate, of the fearsome crush in the compartments, of derelict families who could not obtain seats. The first reporter who went down to the railway station on this mission was apparently carted off to the hospital in a paralytic seizure as he was not able to support ti shock of seeing the star ex cur: trains almost empty, and with people not only with ample seating accommodation, but able in vulgar fashion to put their feet on to the opposite seat. For once the railway companies admitted that the public had deserted them; for once the seaside resorts, although still very full, spared us the stories of thousands sleeping on the sea beaches owing to lack of accommodation. 'The mystery was soon solved. Not being able to pay the heavy railway fares, the public contented themselves with short distance journeys from London by road. Every cycle, every motorcycle, and every motor' was requisitioned for the day, while the oranibuses, which now run for 25 miles out of London, concentrated on taking people out of town, for walks in the country. This worked very well till night, but when the crush came to return home numbers of people everywhere found there Was no means of getting back to London and had to pass the night in improvised conditions, though as the weather was very warm no one seems to have sustained any harm.
All the outdoor public resorts were uncomfortably crowded. Kew had the record attendance of its career, While places like the Zoo had between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors. Even the river with its scandalous charges of five shillings an hour for a boat, seems to have been unusually thronged.
Tun Stiama or Exrravacance.
All this is a good sign, and there are many others. The tobacconists already announce that the public, owing to the rise in the duty on tobacco, are reducing their consumption, while the hotels are finding that many regular clients
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.