HOTEL ACCOMMODATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 297, 23 October 1879, Page 2

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION.

To the Editor of the Wairakapa Daily. \ . . -. Sir—Business having caused me to travel from Masterton to Akiteo by the East Coast road, and seeing in your paper that accommodation was procurable al the Tenui hotel, I timed my departure so to arrive there at nightfall. ./^x, jl|f||| After travelling as disgraceful a road as ImM could be found anywhere in New Zealand, I arrived at Tenui tired out, and anything l||| approaching comfort would have been l| welcome. On inquiring at a lean-to, out- M side of which there were several men - rather the worse for liquor, where the hotel was, I was told that that was it. Dismounting, I went inside, and if it looked a shanty outside it was a great deal worse in. I got a shako down on a settle, where I was unable to get any sleep until about one or two o'clock the next morning, owing to the shouting, hooting, etc,, of the before-mentioned parties. This state of things, lam credibly in- i formed, has been going on for months, and still the Licensing Bench allows the • license to go on. Upon complaining next morning I was told that if I growled at that they wondered what I would have to say to the next hotel, ten miles further on, at Whakataki. I thought it could not possibly be worse, so determined staying there a night on my way back, ■Returning three days after, I reached Whakataki, soaking wet, at about 3 p.m., and on asking where I could sleep was shown into a place containing six or eight bunks, without either mattrasses or blankets, This " hotel," as it is termed, was formerly a stable, wash-house, and store-room, and has a blacksmith's shop under the same roof. The latter being in full work at the time of my visit, you may imagine the offensive odors with which one would have to put up. It was too much for me, and the rain having ceased I decided that the shelter of a toi bush would be preferable to such accommodation, so I pushed on, Now, sir, your correspondent of the 4th inst. would lead the travelling public to suppose that there is at least comfortable accommodation to be obtained on this road, but my experience proves the very opposite.

Who, may I ask, is to blame for this state of things 1 Is it the policeman who neglects his duty and dues not report to the Licensing Bench the way affairs are managed, or have the Licensing Commissioners forgot that they are neglecting their duty to the public by allowing things to go on in this way from quarter to quarter 1 I must apologise for taking up so much of your space, but had you, Mr Editor, had to put up with what I did, I know you would have spoken in far stronger J§ terms than I have used.—l am, &c. , J. L. Wellington, 17th October, 1879. [Our correspondent refers, we presume, to two hotels which haye been recently burnt down and which are now conducted in temporary premises, pending the completion of new structures,—En, W. D.]