THE MASTERTON HOTELS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 547, 30 June 1909, Page 8

THE MASTERTON HOTELS.

SELLING FURNITURE AND PAYING-OFF STAFFS.- ; ; : v, '■; '• Oorresrohdent.)' ■ w ! - • ' Masterton, Juno 29/' i rom an outward point of viow, Jlastertoh does not to have 1 bestowed a larae amount of consideration as to what is ; Eoinn to .happen to tbo town and district after License 'has rung down the curtain. There is no doubt; however, . that the. subject has .been-muoh^disenssed,';and with'no finality aa to the future of tie hotels. People, there: JorVhave. 'given:th e J faatter fife -as an -unooffsolfng / themselves' wrth the fact that time'will tell. Bnsincss .men been ■ regret thai,; with the' closi iirninf fifsticlasi* an# «stiy buildings will: become wn-rtproduefcive.' At the timo or the Section, : there were many ,wJwi could ncver_bring; tbefoselves soriouslV to . befreve that Masterton',would vote' No. License, for Mastert-on/ ,is a hotel ■ town, was : one.of tbe .best m New Zealand.; i . Situated in a prosperous commercial and' 1 oentre, its' hotels for 1 years wore i paying M( j that' is oho ofjthe reasons why such,fine establishments were erected. Five of the buildings-tbe Club,_-Emrare, Occidental, Prince of Wales, , and . Queen s—are perhaps superior in strutEP™ to any other five\ hotels in any New town four large centres.' inotr cost was considerably over £70 000, li seems impossible that they.-can- all: pay tor themselves aB boardinghouses. There is every indication 4hat, with * the Central (and excluding: the Club)r these' will close' down their existences as public houses. The furniture of the Occidental Hotel and the Central has already be&'sold; and th'ev are now-baro of everything except-small supplies lienor.' The Prince of; Wales will sell' its furmttire next week, and the Empire some 55? • place" is' not bought as' a crab. The proprietress of tie Queen's intends to store her ftirnitaro. So far the Club Hotel will be; the. only building to con-' tinuo ns a temperance boardinghooso, but' there is a possibility that it may be sold to a banking institutioni . The Prince of Wales has already been 'refused 'sale by its owner to another bank. ' v

As for the hotelkecpere 'and their ttiey aio to be scattered fair, and wide In numerous cases the staffs have already been reduced, and, em Thursday,.:some' thirty bar- '? a 4r- "opseiriaids will board l the train tor Wellington 6r the | north. One young lady states thatshe is packing her bag for San Francisco, never more to return- to teetotal _New Zealand. Of the proprietors, Mr. J. ° Meara 1 is going into the business at Folding; Mr. T. Porter will remain in Masterton: ..while_Mr.:'F. _C<wpor intends to' go Wirough to' his old district; Hawera. Mr. Barclay will remain in tho Wellington providco, ana Mrs. O'Ncfll in. Mastorton