A MINISTER'S MEALS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 95, 22 April 1922, Page 6

A MINISTER'S MEALS.

One hears it said sometimes that the best way to get a bad road repaired is J to take a Cabinet Minister over it. On the same principle of interesting Caesar, the inconvenience suffered by the New South Wales Minister of Works _at an hotel .that serves, as a- tourist resort, may do more to kill the 44-hour week movement than all the protests of manufacturers. The Minister, like the lady in "Little Mary," was touched in a most sensitive spot. He and his family on j arriving at the Hotel a few minutes to eight, were' refused dinner, and could get no breakfast before eight next morning; consequently he has returned !to Sydney foaming with anger. Under | the 44rhour system, he was told, no meals | were served after 8 p.m. It would be interesting .to know in how many "colonial hotels it is possible to get a full meal after \that hour. The party "had to content themselves with a makeshift." Cold mutton, we suspect. Ugh! Still, it evidently kept the fire of life burning in the Ministerial breast pretty brightly, as it doe 3in so many lesser people. The "no-breakfast" offence of next morning was less excusable, especially as the price of the meal was included "in the bill. Evidently we must revise the old idea that a hotel exists for the comfort and convenience of the travelling public. But when the Minister talks heatedly of "tomfool" regulations, it may not be amiss to remind him that there were times when cooks and waiters had not even a 12» hour day; they worked as long as their masterg required them to. What has happened is that the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other, and a happy medium must be sought. If the 44-hour week is as bad in its effect as the Minister thinks, people will stay away from tourist resorts, and the staffs that now do not work before.eight will be out of work altogether.