J. MORRISON.]

17

I.—9a.

What the publicans of Auckland —and I think the whole Dominion —would like would be that this Bill should be kept back so that all who wished to give evidence could appear. As far as Auckland is concerned, the trade there knows absolutely nothing about this Bill. As far as my staff are concerned, they are all perfectly satisfied under the existing conditions. I have never had any complaints, but have always got on very well with the staff ; and I think with most other hotelkeepers it is the same. The workers are perfectly satisfied with the hours and the wages. If this Bill is passed it means increasing the expenses of the different hotelkeepers by from £200 to £800 a year, and I think it is a very serious matter. For instance, I have just sold out of the Metropolitan Hotel in Auckland and bought into the Albert, never thinking that such a proposal as this was going to be made the second week of my being in my new house. If I had I should not have given the price that I did, because in that house it is going to cost me from £300 to £400 a year more. And then you do not give the public the satisfaction. It disorganizes the staff right through when you begin to employ others to do a day's work. Extra labour is very expensive, and it simply means that there will be a big increase in tariff right through New Zealand. It is of no use talking of Is. a day —that would never meet it ;it means about 2s. 6d. a day. There is one other thing. The boardinghouses up our way are not working under the same conditions that we are, and when we put our tariffs up Is., or 25., or 2s. 6d. a day we shall lose our business. That is the serious part of it. It will give a good chance for more boardinghouses if this extra cost is put on to the hotelkeepers of New Zealand. They are sure to lose their trade. 2. How many hands do you employ ?—I have employed as many as thirty-five. 3. I mean at present ? —1 have only just got into the hotel. 4. Do you not know how the house is manned ?—I suppose I employ about fourteen. 5. How many would be affected under this Bill ? It does not affect the barman and barmaids, does it ?—I should have to keep an extra barman or barmaid—perhaps two. I should have to keep an extra man in the kitchen, an extra porter, an extra waitress, and an. extra housemaid if this Bill became law.. 6. Mr. Atmore.] Do not the barmaids get a holiday on Sunday now ?—Yes. 7. Mr. Hindmarsh,] Mr. Pryor, Mr. Nordon, Mr. Fairburn, Mr. Dwyer, and Mr. Oakes are fairly representative of your trade, are they not ? —Yes. 8. Mr. Nordon seems to know all about hotels in all parts of the world ? —He ought to know a good deal. 9. I think you complained that publicans had not been properly represented here : you would not say that, would you ?—I would certainly say it when there is not one man from the Canterbury District. 10. Hotel workers seem to me to be the lowest-paid workers in the Dominion : what do you pay an ordinary waiter ? —They get from £1 10s. upwards. 11. We will say £1 10s. What is a waiter's food and lodging worth —ss. for a room ?—Yes. 12. And his food ?—Fifteen shillings. 13. I should have thought you could have done it cheaper ? —They live on just the same as the tourist who pays 10s. or 12s. 6d. a day. 14. That would amount to £2 10s. a week, then I —Yes : but waiters get from £1 10s. to £3 a week. 15. What do porters get ?—From £1 ss. to £2. 16. Are they kept ? —Yes. 17. A barmaid, I suppose, gets about £2 a week ? —£l ss. to £2. 18. And she is off on Sunday ? —All day Sunday. 19. And a porter is not ?—He has his hours off. They have many hours off during the day. 20. The Chairman.] The wages are fixed under an award, are they not ?—Yes. 21. Mr. Okey.] You have a good deal of steamer traffic in Auckland on Sundays '. —Yes. 22. That necessitates your keeping a fairly full staff on Sundays ?—Yes; porters, and waiters, and housemaids —all through, with the exception of the bar-attendants. 23. What effect do you think it will have on the tourist traffic of Rotorua if such a measure as this is passed ?—I think it will have a very serious effect on the travelling public generally. 24. The traffic on Sunday there, I take it, is as great as on any day ?—Yes, perhaps greater, because people go there from Auckland on Saturday and return on Monday. 25. Do you not think this proposal will affect the smaller hotels to a greater extent than the larger ones I. —lt will affect all. 1 would not say that it would affect the smaller ones more than the larger ones. It will affect the smaller hotels very much where they keep perhaps two. There they will have to keep three hands, perhaps four. 26. Would not 6d. a meal extra have the effect of transferring the trade from the hotels to the boardin°houses ?—We have put up with a lot of inconvenience and a number of increases up to the present time, in one way and another. Take meat, for instance, and bread, and all the necessaries. No matter what the increase in cost has been, we have not raised our tariffs : we still stick to the same. In some hotels boarding does not pay too well. If this Bill becomes law we shall certainly have to raise our tariff. We cannot possibly go on as we are. 27. You would have to transfer this extra cost to the public ?—Yes, the public will have to suffer. 28. And the public are complaining at the present time about the cost ? —I do not see that they have much to complain about. The great stumbling-block with us is that we lose a certain amount of trade for certain when the tariff goes up, because the boardinghouses are not working under the same conditions that we are. We are under the Arbitration Act, and the boardinghouses are not, 29. You must make provision for a certain number, I suppose : if the trade is transferred you cannot reduce your hands to any great extent ?—lt is rather awkward to reduce hands, but I expect that is what it will come to. If we lose the trade we are sure to reduce the hands. 30. Mr. Atmore.] With regard to the keep of the employees, have you not the option of u-iving them 10s. a week and letting them keep themselves ? —Yes, 1 believe we have that. But I am quite sure that we cannot board a hotel employee for 10s. a week, because they help themselves to the same food as the tourists get.

3—l. 9a.