MR FRANK BULLEN AND NEW ZEALAND HOTELS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13846, 8 March 1907, Page 6

MR FRANK BULLEN AND NEW ZEALAND HOTELS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln your issue of March- 4 there appeared another epistle from your London correspondent •in which ho refers to the high praise, given by Mr F. T. Bullen to Now Zealand in general and to New ■ Zealand and Australian hotels in particular. I have- never read such splendid and wcll-deseryed praise of this beautiful country and its hotels- and food supply before, and I a-in extremely pleased to be ablo to emphatically confirm all that he has stated. Tho New Zealand people, I am afraid, are not half alive to the. advantages they enjoy by living in this glorious land of everything that is good. Anyone uilio has travelled round the earth will have no difficulty 'in substantiating this statement, and especially will ,they endorse tho facts relating to our foods. ' Ono can travel all over America and the Continent of Europe and never gel- a meal in a hotel equal to that obtainablo at the leading hotels in Dunedin and other centres, either as regards price, variety of dishes, or quality. The same may be said of the attendance, etc. The only item on tho Continental menus of which a Britisher can honestly 6peak in terms of praise is tho poultry. AH the rest, with the exception perhaps of somo soups, may bo classed (in tho words of Mr Bullen) as " ambitiously messy and ostentatiously disguised." Mr Bullen's power of description in this caso is really splendid. As for such delicacies as apple tart, rice custard, or, better still, plain rice 'pudding, or fruit pies and milk paddings in general, they aronot, on tlio menus. Even the Englsh hotels arc copying tho Continental, so that a Britisher cannot even get his good old English plain cooking in his own land, unless he dines privat-elyN with friends. There may bo ono or two exceptions, but I slate what I know to bo correct. The item which moots your eye on all menus in England, America, and ', Europe is tho everlasting, übiquitous, iniquitous ICE—lee ! Ice ! lee ! Tho monotonous repetition of this word makes you inclined to go to the manager and aelc him to vary it a liUe, bv nutting on the , menu, Icebergs—fried, grilled, or boiled. . No doubt they would if Ilrcy could. They j will do anything to save trouble so long I as they know you must take it or leave _ > it, for if you go nlsewhcre 10 to 1 you i get similar'treatment. When the traveller > inquires why it is that the hotels aro so i badly managed in this and other respects, i lie learns that they arc nearly all run by E syndicates. One parting word to hotol- ■ keepers: "Always deserve the good I character given to you by Mr F. T. I BuUen.-I am, etc., Jxo. Bull. 1 ■■■*»