COUNTRY HOTELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13766, 3 June 1908, Page 5

COUNTRY HOTELS.

Sir,ln your issue of the 21st inst. I notion that your correspondent, C. A. Young,- easts great slurs upon country hotelkeepere. Every effort is made in these hotels to ensure tho comfort of the (ravelling public, whether staying for one night or for a week or more, and if it happens that anyone arriving after tho stipulated meal times . asks for refreshments (not drink) he is immediately supplied. As to obtaining a bed, does Mr. Young want the publican to engage a special valet for him to take off his boots and attend him to bed? Would your correspondent point, out where ho finds filthy, dirty, and disgusting offices and bathrooms. As to the tariff question, surely Is 6d for each meal and Is 6d for a bed is not too much to pay fo. accommodation, considering the present high price of foodstuffs, the prices mentioned being for casual visitors, the weekly charge being 30s, and not £2 2s. As to the traveller's horse, it is a distinct libel on grooms and stablemen to say that horses do not. have the best of feed, as the best of chaff i* purchased at £6 10s per ton, to which in added the usual quantity of oats and bran. As regards' paddoeking, the state of the paddock naturally depends upon the. weather. Perhaps Mr. Young is one of the, kind of men who come to this hotel, have their horses fed. watered, and bedded down, fed again in the morning, and groomed, and begrudge to pay 3s for the accommodation, and ride or drive away without, saying '"thank you " to the stableman. Your correspondent ought to know that an hotel is run at a great expense, especially in these times of high prices, and that there is very little remuneration for the landlord in the charge of Is 6d for meals, and Is 6d for a. bed, taking info consideration the wear and tear of bedclothes, tablecloth*, linen, eta Tow W. Wooldeidob, stableman. Marine Hotel, Howick.