HOTEL ACCOMMODATION IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. TO THE EDITOR.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 353, 26 January 1876, Page 3

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION IN THE LAKE DISTRICT. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib,— No one who has seen wonderful, i' Lake District — Botorua, Ohinemubir, Whaka* rewarewa, and above all, Botomahana — can -•

doubt that, irr it 'Tffuranga has a mine of <' wealth, if only it is properly developed. Unquestionably Tauranga is the most convenient; base of operations ; but one does grudge the thirty shillings each way to and from Auok« land, especially as one has to find one's 'own--"tuoker."' Bufc-this is -not 'that- of 'which ■ travellers -have, I think, .the mpßfc right to - complain, .and not only travellers, bat the hotelieepors generally >on the' lin& Ftdsn Dunedin* northwards I heard of -nothing but the extortionate charges and wretchedly mean - ounning of the keepers of hotels in your district, and with extortion was combined, insolence and bullying. My testimony is tbafc ' one single individual has given rise to all this - talk. Everywhere else the charges* were aa--moderate in the case of myself and my com' -> pan ions as, considering the difficulty of transport, we had any right to expeot. I would,* . though a eojourner among you, venture to suggest that a decent hotel with a respeotable manager should be established at Wairoa. It may bo good policy, "as one will never, see the ■ beggars again, to get all mitoffTiem one.can, 1 * ' but I venture to doubt it ! ,1/ the- "beggars'* don't come biok themselves^ they tell others of the filtb, bad accommodation, and insolence •? they meet with'; and as one who every year travels 4&any hundred mileß in New Zealand I can affirm that hundreds of people, eepeoial'y • ladies, -are deterred febm visiting this district by. tales; doubtless exaggerated, of insolence, rapacity, and low cunning, A respectable.hotel at Wairoa, somewhat after the Swiss model, modest* but olfcan, fliTi* and comfor- - table, very simply furnished -for summer use only, like the Swiss -hotels, would surely pay as they do. The. proprietor or manager should enter into arrangements with the natives for conveyance "to Botonmhana, and see the traveller "through." It js. a great pity that the surly avan'ce-and ill-manners of one individual should give -an ill name to a district, and injure most kindly aod honorable persona, as I am convinced the • majority of the hotel« -I keepers in this district are. — I am, &c., A TOCEISS^. Tauranga, Jan. 21, 1876, •