I.—9a.

64

J. BEVEBIDOK.

38. You do not want the extra expense till the lease has run out, but if you could get b reduction in the rent, of course, you could get over that difficulty?— Decidedly. 39. Showing clearly thai the staff are paying that extra rent, which ought not to go to the landlord at all, owing to their working seven days a week when they ought to work six?—lt is a question of custom. 40. How have you estimated your extra cost would be £717?—1 can show it clearly. I would require an extra cook at £2 155., two waiters at £1 12s. 6d., a hall-porter at £1 55., one " useful " at £1 55., and a housemaid at 16s. Then, allowance for board and residence, six at 15s. per week, would be £4 10s., making an extra cost of £13 16s. per week, or £717 12s. per annum. There is another alternative I could take, although I should not like to, and that is to dispense with waiters and employ waitresses. The waiters are paid £1 12s. 6d. and upwards, and waitresses are paid verj much less. It has been the custom to employ waiters in the first-class hotels, but there is a tendency now to engage waitresses instead. There has been so much trouble lately and so much difficulty in securing skilled waiters in this small community, and the Grand Hotel at Auckland now employs waitresses, which has proved a great success, but I should be sorry to see it become universal. 41. So that in all probability we will have waitresses instead of waiters whether the Bill passes or not? —No. It this Bill passed it would have a tendency to hasten that, because a man has to look round, when his expenses are increased, for a way of getting a return, whether you are selling beer or Bibles. 42. Mr. Atmore.] You believe, then, in the one day a week holiday?-—Generally I believe in it, in principle. 43. You think it would be unfair if the small hotelkeepers or boardinghouse-keepers were not compelled to do the same as you were? —Certainly, because the principle is there if it is the principle you are looking for. The principle in the Bill is the amelioration of the conditions of the workers, and where is the object to be gained in protecting the many already protected and allowing those unprotected to suffer? In my place there arc fifty employees and they are already safeguarded, but what about the domestic servant employed from daylight to dark ? Is it not as logical to say she should be protected? 44. You believe every man and woman should have one day a week holiday?— Yes. 45. And you believe in a Fair Rent Bill, too?— Yes, certainly. It is the only thing that in going to put us on a better footing. The hotel trade is not what the people of this Dominion think it is. I know hotelkeepers sitting tight to-day who a lot of people think are making money, and yet they are hoping some one will come and buy them out. 46. Hon. Mr. Masse;/.] Do you know anything about the working of the six-days-a-week law in New South Wales?— Yes, I made inquiries when I was there. 47. I understand it only applies to Sydney and suburbs, and not to the whole of New South Wales? —Sydney principally, I think. I only made inquiries in Sydney. 48. Is it a bard-and-fast law?— The position is somewhat different in Sydney, for this reason : They have got a big population, and they can send oui at five minutes' notice and get three or four waiters, whereas here I could not get a waiter in Wellington in ten minutes. I have often asked Mr. Carey to send me some, and he could not do it. In New South Wales the conditions are so different. There has been unprecedented prosperity there for the last ten years, and when the hotelkeepers were approached on the matter they said, " Let them have it— we cannot fight it." The hotels were so overrun that they had no time for anything else but to attend to the people. Another point is that the inspection of the hotels there is not so rigid as it is here. For the slightest misdemeanour the secretary of the union or the Inspector for the Labour Department is down on us immediately. I know where mistakes have been made in Sydney with the staffs, but nothing was said so long as it was in accordance with the spirit of the law. They are starting to get a twist-up in Sydney now. 49. Do you know the reason for discriminating between Sydney and the suburbs so far ac the six-days-a-week Bill is concerned? —No. 50. In the case of small hotels with three servants and under, do you not think there is a serious hardship on them? —Are you going according to the hardship or the principle? If we are going to be guided by the hardship we consider we have just as much hardship to put up with as an_v one else. It does not follow because I employ fifty hands that my staff has a worse time than a staff of three. We have got our worries just the san 51. I am speaking of some of the small country hotels which have two or three servants, and a change of servants would have to be employed?— Very likely. 52. That would mean increasing the expenditure by 33 per cent. ?—Yes, just the same as we all have. 53. In your case what would be the percentage of increase?—lt would be 17 per cent. There would be a sliding ratio. The percentage would increase after a certain point. In the case of a house employing one servant the increase would be 100 per cent. There is another point which ma}' have escaped attention in regard to those places that ask to be exempted. If we are going to exempt the hotel and boardinghouse that employs three servants, how are the people going to get on, because the servants will say, " We are not going to work there—we will go and work at a hotel where they gel a day off." Those people are going to be boycotted to a certain extent. 54. I suppose the increased cost will, after a time, come back on the public?—lt is a question. If we do not get some relief in other directions we will have to do so. I am sure that New Zealand, so far as the hotel accommodation is concerned, with the exception perhaps of one or two Continental places, such as Berlin, is the cheapest place in the world for hotel accommodation. There is no question about it.