K. W. MOVILLY.]

I.—6a.

are concerned, with any portion of the charge for rent. Then, with respect to the question of washing, a single man has to pay his washing bill no matter xvhere he is; he cannot go about in the same clothes from the Ist January till the 31st December. Therefore it cannot be reasonably claimed that the washing bill is a fair charge against the relieving-alloxvances. Noxv, all that the relieving-alloxvances are provided for is to cover the difference in a man's cost of living in settled location and xvhen moving from place to place. If he has to pay transport expenses for his portmanteau, the Department has never, to my knoxvledge, stuck up a voucher for that item or any item of that kind. It is within my knoxvledge that items that xvere considered unreasonable, and which the man who claimed could not justify, have been struck out. Now, with regard to the sufficiency of the amount to reasonably cover board expenses, I just looked last night through the official pocket Guide of the Railway Department. I do not knoxv the houses advertised, but according to the blocks they look all right They are knoxxm as commercial houses —the class of house that our officers x\-ould stay at in the main—and the tariffs are as follows : —

11—I. 6a.

81

Town. Hotel. Rat Per Day. •S. Per Week. Auckland Christchurch Metropolitan Gloucester House Empire Carlton City Palace Criterion Commercial Westcourt Grande Vue Hastings Empire Terminus Provincial Masonic Terminus Railway Windsor Excelsior Hamilton House Williams's Eagle Tea-rooms Carlton Commonwealth Randwick Australia Columbia People's Palace Fenton House Park View Bungalow Thirwell House Langham Crystal Coffee Palace Club Temperance Crown Excelsior Waipawa Grand Mountaineer Ellesmere Parkville New Criterion Metropolitan Hazelwood House New Occidental Masonic Trocadero New-Zealander Kenilworth.. s. d. 7 0 6 0 5 0 5 0 8 0 6 0 6 0 6 6 6 0 6 0 6 6 6 0 6 6 6 0 12 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 6 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 0 5 0 6 0 6 0 5 0 5 0 6 0 .. 6s. 6d. and 7s. 6 0 5s. and 6s. 5 0 4 6 4 0 6 0 6 6 8 0 6 0 6 0 5 0 6 0 6 6 6 6 5 0 8 0 7 0 6 0 s. d. 30 0 Cambridge Dunedin 25 0 Gtore 31 6 31 6 Hamilton Hamilton East Hastings Hawera Napier 35' 0 )> - • 42' 0 j» * - New Plymouth Dhakune )> ■ • Palmerston North 26' 0 35 0 Queenstown .. Rangataua )> - * Rotorua )> * * 30 0 35s. and 30s. 25s. and 30s. 35s. and 30s 30s. and 25s. y? ' * »> " " »j • * ») ■ • >> * • 7) ' ' 30 0 35 0 38s. and 42s. 30s. and 35s. 30s. and 35s. 22 0 • j • . Stratford raihape rimaru Waipawa 35 0 Wakatipu Wanganui 25' 0 30 0 25* 0 Wellington 35 0 42 0 35s. and 42s. ?) * *