HUNGRY TOURIST

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 153, 16 July 1937, Page 7

HUNGRY TOURIST

—PreM Asiooistion.)

Sad Plight of Visitors to New Zealand "meals for her0es'v

(By Telesraph

"WELLINGTON, This Day. A warning that tourists in New Zealand may go hungry on occasions as_a result of recent legislation is given in the Epglish ' journal "The Field" bj Mr George Nugent, writing ftom Panama "It would be impertinence for a tOnrist to decry legislation which js the business of New Zealanders alone, but as oue whose "weeks of toormg have now ended I believe it a fnendly act to warn my kind coupins that a law which uqw restricts the hpurs of service in hotols haa transformed once hospit« able New Zealand into the hungriest and least comfortable of all civilised countries for thg friendless tourist, ' ' ho writes. . .■ "Beautiful as she is, New Zealand cannot exist ou sconery- alone, as wo,h discovered by the earliest Maoris. Lihe tbem, the tourist is preoccupied by day by fear of mbatless nights, but nowadays he may not play for safety as thej did. "When this Aet was passod Parliament soems to. have forgotten the efforta of the State to make the country M for heroes when they tour. "As a xCsult outslde the bigger towns is to compel hotel visitors . to dine at 6 p.m. or not at all. Now it lnust be remembered that the Europeap tourist who can afford a return fare of, say, £150 for 110 weeks' voyaging is no young and hardy pioneer, but almost necessarily elderly and wedded to such reaaonable comforts as are at hand in cvery tourist ■ country, above all, to tKe crpwning comfort of his dinner, which hefccats at 7 p.m. at the earliest. But it is -just to admit that, whilo New Zealdnd dtniea her fainting tourist bread ; at 7. p.m., she does, in the manner of' Marle Antoinette, extend a hope of cako at 10. The unfortunate landlord trics to soften the disoomfort of his guests by serving cakss and tea at bedtjme. and every doctor knows that an. extra daily meal of starchy foods Will shnten the liveS of all of us. -"Bowever one may object to a 6 | o-'dock dinner, even the chance of any ; diuufcr is a vague one, although you may havg had uo tea should the Tourist Bureau forward you by goods train, as it sometimes does. The timed arrival of road car or train is often \ after 6 p.m., and they may run late as j well, io, owing to no fault of yours, you"| do not arrive till 7 haa gone, to find | the dinner over, the tables laid for { breakt'ast, and the staff gone home. | "irometimes easily, sometimcs ouly | by a iuss, jou dan persuade the manager to rako up for you au omnibus plato of tepid fcrap&xand sodden vegetables. This m&y be served by him or by his wrt'a, and, wnsing resentment, you fcel that you are uot guest, but pest. And you reinember that you have paid the Tourist Bureau in advance the charges for a normal, pleasant evening meal. On a Sunday at 9 p.m. one hotel manager denied me evca tea, declaring this would be illegal."