Scathing Report On Hotel Corporation
(New Zealand Press Association)
WELLINGTON, July 8.
Members of the Parliamentary Public Expenditure Committee were emphatic today that the Tourist Hotel Corporation should appoint an administrator to reorganise the corporation. The proposal was made by Mr W. W. Freer (Opp., Mount Albert) and Mr D. Maclntyre (Govt., Hastings). During the debate in the House on the committee’s report, Mr Maclntyre suggested the corporation should have a 10-year plan. “I could get no definite idea of their plans for the future.” “I was not impressed with the board of directors of the corporation,” said Mr Freer. But this may have been partly due to one board member contesting the sub-committee’s right to ask the board certain questions.
The chairman of the committee, the Under-Secretary of Finance (Mr Muldoon) said that a sub-committee, early in its investigation of the corporation, had concluded that personal relationships in the corporation were not satisfactory—a finding substantiated later. The sub-committee also found that administration was not sufficiently formal for a State corporation.
Mr Freer said he believed there were two extremely competent people on the board. The others were competent and sincere, but because they lacked experience in the hotel industry, they were not able to render such valuable assistance to the corporation. He suggested to the Minister of Tourism (Mr Eyre) that when board appointments were considered, it was not sufficient to judge a person’s success in his own occupation. One of the most important matters the corporation must face was the early appointment of an administrator. A man to reorganise the office was urgently needed. To illustrate the difficulties the committee found in the corporation’s head office, Mr Freer said the purchasing officer was doing architectural work instead of the job he was hired to do. Tariffs Criticised The standard of corporation hotels was extremely high —but he regretted the standard of charges was the same. It should be possible to give a high standard of accommodation without high rates. Mr Freer said he was pleased the corporation had instituted lower tariffs in one or two hotels, and urged that more should be included in this class. Mr Freer said that during the inquiry the committee was restricted to the economics of the Tourist Hotel Corporation and could not touch upon the policy of the corporation because of the terms of reference. “I do not believe one can be divorced from the; other.”
The taxpayer was subsidising country hotels because the corporation was not allowed to operate hotels in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch where it could operate hotels at a profit.
It was true that the licen-
sed trade had substantially increased the number of hotel beds in Christchurch, but this was not so in Wellington. Mr Freer accused the Wellington City Corporation of obstructing the licensing trade in improving Wellington’s hotel capacity. Fire Promotion Mr J. B. Gordon (Govt., Clutha) said that the Franz Josef Hotel, a building with beds for about 30 people, had no fewer than 13 fire sprinklers. Yet at the rear of the hotel, where vehicles were parked and fuel stored there was no fire-prevention equipment. Mr Gordon said the committee had been disturbed when it visited the Top o’ the Bruce Chalet on Ruapehu to find £75,000 worth of irreplaceable ski-ing and climbing equipment without fire protection. “We were told water would freeze and the sprinklers would not work. Then they said there was a shortage of water,” said Mr Gordon. “But in a bulk tank of several thousand gallons, water won’t freeze.” Mr Gordon said the committee was also disturbed at strong differences of opinion between the corporation and the National Parks Board. “It is time this House looked at the National Parks Board.”
Mr Maclntyre agreed with Mr Freer that the corporation needed reorganising. “There is a growing desire for economy accommodation, rather than luxury tourist accommodation, and there is definitely a need for lowerpriced accommodation,” he said. “Motel accommodation is very popular and I am certain the corporation would do well to look closely at having different grades of accommodation with the use of the
same high-class restaurant and bar facilities,” he said. Parks Board The manager of the Hermitage had conceived an alpine village with motels, hotels and shops linked together, as in Europe, but because of friction with the National Parks Board the scheme could not be carried out.
At Waitangi, the corporation wanted to build extra accommodation at its hotel—preferably making the hotel double-storey—but the board did not want Waitangi Treaty House obscured.
Mr Eyre said it cost about 30 per cent more to run corporation hotels than city hotels. Plans were being drawn for motels at Milford. The losses of the corporation had been looked on by successive governments as a direct contribution to the tourist trade. If no accommodation was provided in New Zealand’s scenic spots, there would be no tourists. Private enterprise had been unwilling to shoulder such losses.
Mr Eyre said the corporation endeavoured to make a profit and his department would look into the recommendations.
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Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 3
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843Scathing Report On Hotel Corporation Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 3
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