HOTEL SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22670, 6 March 1937, Page 16

HOTEL SERVICE

EFFECT OF NEW LAWS TOURIST'S SHARP COMMENT THE INDUSTRY ENDANGERED GOVERNMENT'S BLINDNESS [ by telegraph—OWN correspondent] DUNEDIN, Friday Trenchant comment on the effect of restrictive legislation with regard to hours and service in the New Zealand tourist industry, which he regards as one of the Dominion's greatest assets, | was made to-day by Lieutenant-Colonel A. T. G. Magan, of Killyon Manor, Hill-o-Down, County Meath, Ireland, who is at present at Pembroke in the courso of an extended holiday tour of the Dominion. It is his opinion that the tourist traffic, like trade ]l * • commodities produced in New Zealand, must be earned by the supply of the best quality article. Lieutenant-Colonel Magan said that he was not greatly concerned at the increased tariffs that were to be met with everywhere in New Zealand today, nor would the average visitor take notice of them. The problem so far as ho could see was to provide that increased service which must accompany the higher rates. Extra Burden on Hosts No on« objected to paying for service, but if the Government persisted in im--posing restrictive regulations on hotel proprietors and others which made it impossible even to give that measure oft service that was available under the previous labour conditions in hotels and hostels, the effect on the tourist trade must be serious. So far as he could see at the present time, the hosts and hostesses of the Dominion were carrying the burden themselves by unceasing work and long hours. The position was not fair either to the tourists or to their hosts, and actually ho could not believe that the Government would remain blind to the need for a lot of readjustment i;n legislation that was hampering the development of one of its chief industries. Limit to Overtime "I have seen it in a dozen places in New < Zealand," said LieutenantColonel Magan. "Hosts and hostesses have to take upon themselves all sorts of duties, early and late, because the staff has completed the requisite number of hours. It is not that hotel proprietors do not want to pay overtime or make every allowance within reasou to their staff's. There appears to be a point with regard to overtime beyond which an employer may not go, and when that point is reached what has to be done must be done by the employer himself." Lieutenant-Colonel Magan added thnt he had seen Cabinet Ministers and members of the Government on tour in various parts of New Zealand durfng his present stay, and it was inconceivable to him that they could not have noticed the disabilities under which the tourist industry was being conducted as a result of their enactments.