SERVICE IN N.Z.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30125, 8 May 1963, Page 17

SERVICE IN N.Z.

City Workers Defended Hotel workers in Christchurch were among the best, most polite, considerate and neatly dressed in New Zealand, said the secretary of the Canterbury Hotel Workers’ Union, Mr L. Short, yesterday. In the last two years the union and employers in Christchurch had made concerted and extremely fruitful efforts in raising hotel worker standards, he said. Mr Short was commenting on a statement by Dr. A. M. Finlay in his presidential address to the Labour Party conference. Dr. Finlay said the standard of service to the public in New Zealand compared unfavourably with that of other countries, and was among social questions to which he would give high priority. “Until two years ago, there was a fantastic amount of criticism of hotels and hotel services by overseas travellers and tourists,” Mr Short said. "Since then there has been very little, largely through the efforts the union has made, in co-operation with employers. Also, several training schemes have been tun all over the country for hotel staff.” Mr Short said that waiters had been trained at both the Hermitage and at the Chateau Tongariro. The Chefs’ Association had also trained young lads to be chefs. “We don’t deserve the criticism made by Dr. Finlay," said Mr Short. “We think his statement was a pretty sweeping one. It could have referred not only to 'hotels but to workers in shops! hospitals and transport”

The president of the New Zealand Retail Shop Assistants’ Federation, Mr P. M. Velvin, said yesterday that the standard of service in Christchurch shops today wag high.