BAD CONDITION OF HOTELS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21806, 11 June 1936, Page 8

BAD CONDITION OF HOTELS

+ ... .... REVELATIONS MADE AT AUCKLAND COMMENT BY CHAIRMAN ' OP COMMITTEE iraua association txleobaw.) AUCKLAND, June 10. Disquieting revelations as to the conditions in certain Auckland hotels were made at the annual meeting of the Auckland Licensing Committee. Alto: visiting all of the older hotels, the committee adjourned consideration of the licenses of six houses for reports from the owners or architects. “The committee desires to inspect some of the older houses, because it feels that these houses should be rebuilt,- said Mr Wyvem Wilson, S.M, who presided. “Since these houses were built, Auckland has progressed enormously.. It is true that several large hotels have been built; but the committee is informed that accommo. dation is taxed and at some seasons Inadequate. It is in the interests of the public that these should be rebuilt

“The committee has asked me to say that it considers the time is long overdue for a comprehensive re-en-actment of the licensing Itws,” continued Mr Wilscn, “They are in many reqmcts archaic, having come into being in the seventies and early eighties, when the public requirements were quite different”

A state of disrepair, amounting to dilapidation, was Mr Wilson’s description of the Queen’s Ferry Hotel. “We want the owner to put some better proposition before us,” he said. The police report on the Imperial Hotel stated that the house showed signs of age. and was infested with rat*. The lavatory had been leaking into the cellar, where beer was stored. This defeat had fortunately been remedied”

“The Suffolk Hotel is another very ancient building, but although dirty and not kept ckan, it is in a fair state of repair, considering its age. However, there is no dining-room for the public and people have to have their meals in the Kitchen.” Mr Wilson said.

The application was adjourned. Comment was also made about several other hotels.