H—3B

641. In New Zealand we think that the " mine host " element is largely absent from the service that might be expected in the hotel (see, for example, R. 2734). We "think that there is room for a new conception on the part of the management of hotels of the standard of service to which an hotel may attain. 642. We infer from the evidence that before the war the hotel staffs, in general, gave cheerful and willing service, though there appears to have been persistent trouble in securing suitable and competent chefs. Since the war the conditions of labour have been very difficult, but we think that these conditions will probably pass with the effects •of the war. 643. The evidence of the employers and of the Federated Hotel Workers' Union is that the relationship between employer and worker has, in general, been cordial. According to the union, (a) there have been occasions when there have been employers who refused to play the game, and these have been dealt with as the occasion arose ; and (b) there have also been rare occasions on which there have been open breaches with a threat of job action by the staff, but these occasions have never reached any considerable dimension and have always been satisfactorily adjusted. 644. The union also stated (R. 7156): — . . . as an indication of the cordiality which exists between the parties concerned and their •capacity to adjust their own differences, we would point out that during the past fourteen years we have made at least ten Dominion awards covering the industry, and in each case the award has been a •complete agreement between the parties concerned and the Arbitration Court has not had the privilege of writing one line of it. This is unique in industrial history. We are glad to know that the relationship is so cordial. On such a basis, there may be speedily built an excellent ideal of service to the public. 645. We refer here also to the question of suitable staff accommodation. We have not had any detailed evidence as t the way in which hotel staffs are at present .accommodated. We are aware that many are accommodated in hotels. We think it desirable, as suggested by the Federated Hotel Workers' Union, that, wherever practicable, on a rebuilding or on the erection of a new hotel, the staff should be housed in a building detached from the hotel and not subject to the licensing laws. In this way the staff may entertain their guests as they would in their own homes. Section 6. —The Need for Providing more Accommodation in the Future (See para. 583) 646. We have hitherto been dealing with the conditions of the past. We have had, however, evidence as to the needs of the country for accommodation in the future from Mr. Stanley Ringer, the Hotel and Motor-camp Inspector of the Automobile Association (Auckland), and we think it desirable to state the conclusions which he formed on a recent tour of the hotels of the North Island, from the North Cape to Wellington. Mr. Ringer's duties, as Hotel and Motor-camp Inspector of the Automobile Association (Auckland), make him well qualified to give this evidence, and we accept it 647. Mr. Ringer stated that there was an insufficiency of accommodation in licensed premises reasonably sufficient to satisfy the demand over the whole year. He applied this, in particular, to the following places : Whangaroa, Opononi, Russell, Paihia (although there is no licensed hotel there), Whangarei, Parakai (near Hellensville—there is no license at Parakai, but that is where the hot springs are), Auckland, Hamilton, Whitianga, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui (there is no licensed accommodation at Mount Maunganui), Rotorua, Gisborne (which has sufficient licenses, but requires more rooms of a higher standard), Hastings, the King-country, Napier, Taupo, Tokaanu or Turangi, Taumarunui, Mount Egmont (there is no license there), Palmerston North, Wellington {where the accommodation is of a higher standard than anywhere else in New Zealand, but insufficient for the needs of the business men of New Zealand and of the ordinary New Zealand traveller), Taihape, Okoroire, Tirau, and Putaruru.

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