WONDERFUL CAREER

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11734, 23 January 1924, Page 4

WONDERFUL CAREER

HOTEL MAGNATE DEAD. ONCE A BLACKSMITH. From blacksmith’s boy to hotel magnate! Such, in a phrase, describes the wonderful career of Mr William Harris, chairman of the Carlton and Ritz Hotels, London, and of other great hotels in different parts of the world, New York, Buenos Ayres, etc., whose death is announced.. He was in his sixty-fifth year, and! like Mr Bonar Law, was a victim of cancer in the Sir Berkeley Moynihan, the celebrated Leeds surgeon, performed an operation, but it was unavailing. Born in the Isle of Man, of poor parents, Mr Harris received only a free elementary education. First engaged in a blacksmith’s shop, he early developed a taste for figures, and entered an accountant’s office in Manchester at 6s a week. There, bv diligent study, he soon disKimsolf, and rose to a high position. He was author of several books on accountancy, and some thirty years ago became the best-known specialist in the world on hotel accounts. GENIUS FOR FIGURES. Air Harris developed his, system to such an extent that if he were told how many table napkins had been used in the hotel in a day, and, roughly speaking, the; nationality of the' various guests, he could estimate the takings with surprising accuracy. It was his boast that he could tell the price of meat and fowls on any particular day in the various great cities in which he controlled hotels. Indeed, h© had a genius for figures. He was closely associated with the late Mr Ritz, whose name has become a trade mark in hotels of the world. His remarkable business abilities led to his association with other great enterprises, notably Meux’s Brewery and Mappin and Webb, Ltd., of both of which companies he was chairman. He was also largely identified with the Hyde Park Hotel and Queen Anne’s Mansions. Deceased was head of the firm of William Harris and 00., chartered accountants, of Chancery Lane. The beginning of his many successful hotel interests was his reorganisation of the provision department of the Hamburg-Amerika line, which was put into his hands by, •Herr Baffin. As a y result of his superintendence, it is stated that £50,000 was saved to the fleet in one year. From the Atlantic liners he extended his interests to America itself, and built the Ritz-Carlton Restaurant and Hotel at Atlantic City, which has been described as the finest establishment of its kind in the world.

Jn connection with the great businesses of which he was chairman, Mr Harris received reports which dealt not only with receipts and expenditure and complaints of customers, but also with the engagement and discharge of members of the staff and even the state of the weather—an important item in the public catering business. An example. of his shrewd wit was a comment on a question set in the chartered accountants’ entrance examination, whero the examiner had omitted funeral expenses in setting forth an executorship account. He observed, “As there are no burial expenses, it is presumed this person died at sea.”