Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE SATURDAY, MAY 9th., 1925. DOMINION HOTELS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 May 1925, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE SATURDAY, MAY 9th., 1925. DOMINION HOTELS.

A familiar controversy regarding the standard of hotels in New Zealand, has been revived by censures passed by .some recent tourists to this country, and repeated by the Hon. G. J. Anderson. Apparently, the visitors were disappointed because the hotels here were' 1 ' not so luxuriously equipped as the best in London, Paris, Monte Carlo or New York, but then it was never pretended they were. Obviously, a Ritz or a Waldorf would be a hopeless proposition, commercially, in this small populated 'country, and the number of tourists must increase enormously, and their stay be considerably extended, before the huge sums necessary will be invested here in the last word in hotel construction and equipment. Tourists, howefer aristocratic or American, must he urged to keep a ien.se of proportion. New Zealand cannot attempt to rival the accommodation facilities available in • rhe big resorts of the Northern hemisphere, any more than those

lands can compete with the vast natural beauties and sporting assets of the Dominion. Tourists do not come to New Zealand primarily for-.its hotel accommodation .or social 'functions, such as are the chief attractions of world-famous resorts,- but for Nature’s marvels with Which this o'duhfry is so richly endoW'ed. It is upon these latter,, that New Zealand appeals for slip-, port from globe-trotters. The whole business of accommodation for tourists must be regarded from a common-sense viewpoint. Few are prone to invest money In concerns promising no returns, and most hotel-keepers declare that there is little profit derived from the board and lodging provided. The question really has little to do with liquor v. prohibition, as the • “temperance” hotels are not so well-equipped aS-' to. make patrons wildly enthusiastic, gnd generally, compare unfavourably with licensed houses. Few of the private hotels' were originally erected as such, and the unWilling- . ness for this form speculation appears to.be evidence that apart from the bar trade, hotels are not over-remunerative. Dependence on

this part of the hotel industry tints being admitted, it is easy to understand why there is reluctance to spend large sums on the other part, unless the chief source of profit is more assured than it is at present. We do not, at this stage, desire to repeat the old arguments about liquor v. prohibitioft, but simply state the fact that'There is little 'chance of Dominion hotels improving much, until greater. security . of tenure where the bar-trade is concerned, is forthcoming. No business, with what is practically. only a three li years’ lease, would be justified-in spending large sums on the premises in which the; business was being conducted. The nation —and the tourists —must face this fact, that until licensees -have a more assured tenure, hotel 'improvements and renovations- will be kept at a minimum. There is nothing

ethically or economically wrong in this attitude, and, if similar circumstances ruled, what is done —or Hot done—by hotel-keepers would be the course adopted by every other sort of trader. The next licensing poll should be the • last for, say, another nine years, so that if prohibition were defeated, hotel property owners would know where they stood for a reasonable period, and they could then be expected to show more enterprise in re-building or equipment projects. There are, of course, some inferior hotels in the Dominion as there are in every country, but -licensing committees keep a vigilant eye on shortcomings, and taking every aspect into consideration, it is doubtful if b the tourists have just grounds for ' serious complaint. Some grumble wherever they stay, expecting to find on a journey all the comforts of ‘an ideal home.