CATERING FOR VISITORS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30043, 30 January 1963, Page 13

CATERING FOR VISITORS

Training School Advocated

Schools should be set up either in Christchurch or Wellington in which boys and girls could receive training in citizenship, cooking, and the management of h

otels and other accommodation houses.

This suggestion was made yesterday by a Timaru woman who expressed dis* approval at the amounts charged here and throughout New Zealand tor "holiday accommodation, particulady bed-and-breakfast. In her opinion, 15s to £1 was quite enough to charge for overnight board and a full breakfast.

She said that in Scotland, where she had 15 years* experience at- cooking in the Highlands, practically evdry home provided bed and breakfast accommodation.

This was the case in Roseshire, where a person was given a sumptuous supper, lodging, and a “hearty" breakfast for 15s. Boys and girls were taught how to cook and to lay tables, and coached in every aspect of “tourist husbandry.” A man might be a barman, but his qualifications were such that he was able to act as chef, receive visitors, and carry out other duties usually undertaken by a hotel manager. This standard had not been attained in New Zealand, with the result that the labour shortage being what it was, prices were out of all proportion to the standard of service provided, and unscrupulous persons not licensed as boarding house or private hotelkeepers exploited visitors—as was the case in Timaru—by charging high prices for accommodation. £1 2a to £1 5s for bod and breakfast was too much for the "New Zeeland scale of m-ala,” she added. She was folly in agreement with a suggestion by a Timaru accountant, Mr E. C Kingston-Smith, that there

should be some "mart of approval”—come system of registration with the “blessing” of the Public Relations Officer.