INHOSPITALITY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13917, 20 March 1909, Page 4

INHOSPITALITY.

A STRANGER IN STRATFORD.

"PUBLICANS AND SINNERS."

SLEEPS IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE

An unexpected visitor to the Herald Oi'iice to-day w.u a Wellington p.essmtui, who had just made a trip through tho Ohura Country from Onuarue to [Stratford as special reprec<t his paper. Ho bore the marks of travel in the backblocks in the shapo of much mud. To a Herald, reporter he explained th^ presence of the mud to tho fact that on arriving at Stratford from Whangamomona late J-ist night lie had been unable to obi.iiii hotel accommodation and had ■ pent the night in a railway carriage at .he Stratford station. "I left Ongani? on Wednesday morning by a coach," he said, "and reached Mangaroa in tho afternoon. The next day I walked through the Tongarakau Gorge in heavy rain and made*Hallett's, ten miles the other side of Whangamomona, at nightfall, wet to the skin. Yesterday morning I pushed oh with a considerable swag over the muddy road into Whangamomona, where I arrived about noon. There was no coach that' day, but an extremely important engagemont made it necessary that I should* reach Stratford early in tho evening. So I hired a horsG at the stables and set- out for a f orty-milo ride in the afternoon, having already covered forty miles afpot the previous day and that morning. ( After describing the journey, he saul v "By the time Stratford was reached it was midnight. *The horse was so fagged that I .had to load him fully half the way. I knocked up a, stableman at Stratford and he cheerfully took charge of tho poor horse, plastered with mud and absolutely dead beat.

HUNTING FOR A BED.

"I then wont to look for accommodation for myself, anticipating Kttle difficult^. Some youths standing at a corner, discussing a game of poker just finished, pointed mo out an hotel and said the only way of entrance was by the fire escape over th« yard fence. I followed their advice, shinned over the fence and mounted the fire escape. I found the door at the top locked. Feeling that I must get accommodation somewhere, I began to rap smartly, making more and more noise as the ' house still remained silent. At last a response dame. A hand drew bank a curtain and a face appeared at a winy do\v. Presumablj' it was the landlord, for he asked my name and business. I told him .through the pane, as he did not open the window. I mentioned how far I had come and how glad I would be of a bed for the night. The face disappeared. There was silence for some moments. I thought he was going round to open the door. No such lvck. He knocked at the window again and announced that he had just remembered he had absolutely no room. I tried to remonstrate, but he got angry and told me J should have, rung \ip from Whangamomona, which was poor. &*athfaetion at half -past twelve at flight. ANOTHER REBUFF. "I descended into the street again and tried another hotel at the upper •nd of the town. I banged on the front door, first, then, after consulting two young jnen, on their way home, I tried the 'fire escape act again. The door was again locked. I knocked and knocked and then assailed it with a convenient broom. There was a movement inside and a young man came .to the door very lightly clad. He said lie was a boarder, but recommended me to look fpr a vacant room. It smacked of breaking and entering, but I was desperate and tried several handles. The doors were all looked. Then there was a vigorous commotion in* a dark corner of a passage. A<<door was opened and the voice or a woman, presumably the landlady, belaboured me with vehement tirade. She. thought it was disgraceful waking up people like that at that hour of the morning. I assured her I 'was sorry, but that I knew no other way of gaining a resting place for the night. She said the bouse was full and some were double-banked. I wished to explain matters further, but she out all conversation short by disappearing in a whirl of indignant drapery followed by slamming and locking the door. I retired discouraged. A STRANGE RESTING-PLACE. ,

. "Not being keen to go through another performance of the kind I walked up and down the Stratford boulevard in the whistling wind, shivering with cold and wet clothing. There was nobody about now, for it was after one o l clock. No friendly constable hove into view to solve all difficulties. After half-an-hour's, perambulation about the .streets I decided that something must Ix* done. I was too tired to walk further , having covered a .heavy fifty m : les that day already. So I went down to the station. I heard of men sleeping in' empty railway carriages and doing six months for it in gaol afterwards. I was quite prep«ored to do a ycarp if I could only get somewhere out of the wijid and lie down for a while* "There were three carriages standing oh the rails. The first two were Igcked. The doon of the third opened, and I stepped into a warmer 'atmosphere. I heard a snoring, a grunt, a yawn and a sneze at the other end of the carriage and I knew I was not to be the only occupant. Then a voice came through the darkness, a husky Irish brogue almost unintelligible.. He bade mo not strike a light as there might be somebody about the platform still. I didn't strike a light. I just rolled up the cushion, put my swag under :t and lay down. My neighbour in the gloom talked all the time in his. loud hoarse tones. He evidently had tho same complaint against the hotels as myself. 1 He had tried the whole five, he said, and found them all hostile.

"We were undisturbed until the morning, when I saw my companion, a typical sundowner of the rogue and vagabond kindred. I had been unable to Bleep with publicans, so, had turned to the sinners. Through the kindness of a boarder at one of the hotels I was able to get a wash in his room. After breakfast I came on here."

DUTIES OF PUBLICANS.

"Now the whole point," said the pressman in concl vision, "is whether the hotelkeepers are compelled or not to find accommodation for travellers who can pay. I have always understood that the terms of their licenses em joined on them the duty of providing board -and lodging as well as the privilege of selling beer. They surely haye some obligations to flhe people for the monopoly they enjoy. Personally I have never experienced such treatment before either in New Zealand or in the Old Country. Beyond a cold and touch of rheumatism I have suffered no ill effects so far, but with any delicate, person it might have meant death. I hope I may never have to go through it again."