CONTINENTAL SYSTEM OF LOANS FOR HOTELS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29069, 4 December 1959, Page 24

CONTINENTAL SYSTEM OF LOANS FOR HOTELS

' -The Press' Special Service

DUNEDIN, December 3. In Continental countries he visited on an extensive overseas tour, Mr H. T. Speight, a Dunedin businessman, found that some hotels were built by finance provided by the Government or local bodies at low rates of interest on a long-term mortgage or loan basis. Mr Speight said hotels were then leased to interested individuals or others. Pointing out the value of such a scheme, he said it was generally recognised that the tourist industry brought benefit to everyone in the community. Mr Speight and his wife spent eight months visiting more than a score of countries. “Naturally, because of our currency control, we were not able to sample the more expensive hotels, but those we stayed at are comparable with those in this country. Some of the smaller country hotels in the United States are similar to our own.” Mr Speight, a director of New Zealand Breweries, Ltd., and

manager of the company’s Speight branch in Dunedin, discovered a changing palate for beer overseas and in Britain, especially where a war-deprived population was eating more and more chocolate and sweets. The beer to which people were turning he described as “a light, full-bodied beer, lightish in colour and bland to the taste. N.Z. Quality “Fortunately for us, we have anticipated that. Beers we are making in this country were sampled in my presence in Denmark, and. they received the highest possible commendation—one in particular.” Surprise was expressed that such quality beer was produced in New Zealand. The fact that one of New Zealand’s breweries in Palmerston North was the first in the world to produce beer by the continuous fermentation process Mr Speight found to be news overseas. When visiting various breweries, he was questioned closely on the process—“so much so that there were occasions when the whole time was given to discussion of the process, and I did not have the opportunity of seeing any of the brewery’s equipment or processes.” Citing it as an example of the interest being shown in the new development, which his company was now in the process of installing in breweries, in the four main centres, Mr Speight said that representatives of the biggest brewery interests in England were coming to New Zealand early next year to inspect the plants using the process.