CLEANER HOTELS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1639, 9 May 1925, Page 8

CLEANER HOTELS

SOAP CHEAP AND WATER

PLENTIFUL.

Speaking at the annual banquet of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday night, the Hon; G. J. Anderson had some very straight things to say about the need for cleanliness in New Zealand hotels. In great detail the Minister traversed the work which the Government had endeavoured to carry out in securing wider publicity for New Zealand. Among other projects to which he referred was the appointment shortly, if at all possible, of a man in San Francisco to work- Dominion publicity through the United States. “But after we have advertised New Zealand’s scenic beauties through England and America,? he went on, “what are you going to do about your hotels? I am going to talk very plainly on this subject. (Applause). I am a man who travels a good deal, and to all intents and purposes I am a New Zealander, seeing that I was brought here when I was two years old. I am not a sybarite, but there is one thing I do like, and that is cleanliness, and there is no excuse for dirt anywhere —not even in the oldest ramshackle hotel in New Zealand. Soap is cheap, and there is any amount of water in New Zealand, but what do you find?” “Cockroaches,” volunteered a voice —followed by a loud burst of laughter. “And in some cases bugs,” observed Mr Anderson. “I could tell you an amusing story about that. But this is your job; this is not a Government job. You have got to clean these places up—and you can do it. What about the Licensed Victuallers’ Association? Who is going to get money from all this propaganda? Is it not the hotelkeepers? And it is the duty of the Licensed Victuallers’ Asociation to see that no matter how humble the hotel may be that the place is clean.”