CENTENNIAL YEAR

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 66, 10 December 1938, Page 13

CENTENNIAL YEAR

Accommodation Survey

Made

AN ACUTE PROBLEM

Wellington, Auckland And

Tourist Resorts

General discussion on the possibility of the licensed trade and boardinghouse interests providing additional accommodation during the centennial period and the. reception of a report on the activities of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition accommodation committee by its chairman, Mr. C. W. Earle,' were features of the hrst meeting of the National Centennial Accommodation Committee, according to the report presented by the committee to the meeting of the National Centennial Council in Wellington this week.,

The report by Mr. Earle, which gave a resume of the accommodation suirey undertaken by the exhibition accommodation committee, and the several avenues it was exploiting to make additional accommodation available, was received with general approbation, slates the report of the national - committee, and it was decided that it be distributed for the guidance of all provincial centennial councils. Heavy Temporary Demand. On the question of the licensed trade and boardinghouse interests making additional accommodation available, the consensus of opinion was that little could be expected in that direction, the report continued. Information supplied by members of the committee representin'- both the principals and the eiuplovees was to the effect that because of the fluctuating nature of the business and the high overhead costs, it would not be am economic proposition to involve the expenditure of further capital to meet an extraordinary demand such as would obtain during the centennial period. In any ease it would be difficult for hotels to obtain the seivices of the trained staff that such an extension would necessitate.

It was generally agreed that a temporary demand of such magnitude could be met only by temporary means such as were being exploited by the exhibition accommodation committee and the Auckland entertainment commitee — the establishment of motor camps, the conversion of large buildings to provide accommodation cubicles, the use of boarding schools in the holiday period, and an appeal to private! homes to take in paying guests. It was considered that the accommodation problem would be acute in Wellington, Auckland and the tourist resorts particularly, and to a lesser degree in Chrisicliureh'tind Dunedin. In the interests of the good reputation of the Dominion, particular attention vioitld have to be paid to the requirements of overseas tourists desiring the best accommodation. Accommodation Bureaux. On the request of Hie Auckland Provincial Centennial Council that the Government establish in Auckland an accommodation bureau as a . distinct branch of the Tourist and Publicity Department, Mr. .1. Houston, the department’s representative on the committee, informed the meeting that the local accommodation committees couldy be assured of the co-operation of the department in those centres where there was a Government Tourist Bureau. As was done in the case of the last Springbok Rugby test match in Auckland, the bureau would be pleased to keep a register of the private accommodation offering, handle the correspondence connected therewith, and generally assist the local committee in-the organisation. It was unanimously agreed, the report slated, that it wars imperative that all those who would be associated with the accommodation problem should be advised as soon as practicable of the centennial celebration programme throughout the Dominion, and the National Centennial Council was recommended to take action accordingly. The chairman of the National Centennial Accommodation Committee, Mr. Percy Coyle, gave a review of the organization set up in Adelaide to meet the accommodation requirements of the South Australian Centennial celebrations in 1936. The organization, and the avenues exploited, were very similar to those contemplated in Wellington ami Auckland, ami as the South Australian scheme was an unqualified success, it was generally agreed that similar results could reasonably be expected in New Zealand.