CORRESPONDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3768, 11 June 1907, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

We do not hold ourselves responsible for opinions expressed by our correspondents. To the Editor. 3 lli( —Will you kindly insert the following re Post Office Hotel, Foxton : I notice in your subleader and also in your teport of the Annual Licensing Committee, held at Marton on the 6th June, you have picked upon me and my house as one of the worst in the Manawatu District. 1- now ask you to report the untrue and dastardly statements made by the Chairman, which you say were scathing criticism. As a very old resident of Foxton, and well known throughout the district, this scathing criticism is very humiliating to me, and I consider the man is very unreliable who lodged the report to the Licensing Committee, warranting the Chairman making the uncalled for remarks he did in open Court. I now ask you to publish the report enclosed herewith of the Health

Officer :

with iron roof, containing 14 rooms for public use; bedrooms, fairly clean ; bedding is clean and ample; bedrooms nos. 6 and 10 have no direct communication with the outer air, and are very dark ; some ot the floor boards in bedroom no. 8 evidently have been taken up by gas-fitters and not properly replaced, they being loose. Dining-room, kitchen and pantry, clean and airy ; kitchen sink is not trapped; top and flashing is defective, allowing waste water to splash over and leak into enclosure beneath ; roof leaks badly in several places, with the result that the wall and ceiling papers are soiled and torn. There is no light kept on first floor landing ; I know from experience that a light is absolutely necessary here; I arrived by train from Palmerston North, saw Mr Gray and asked for a room ; was told I might have no. 8 ; was not shown to the room and had, with the aid of matches, to find it myself. Drainage to river, satisfactory. Conveniences, three pan privies and urinal; the public privy adjoining the urinal is dilapidated and tumble-down; the other two are satisfactory ; urinal, wooden floors and galvanised iron trough, discharging over drain ; the trough is insanitary, and the floor gets fouled and saturated with urine. • Stables, satisfactory; the cement around the grease-trap is broken ; the joint between drain and drain ventilating shaft is also broken ; some of the timbers in south-west corner of hotel are decayed. Mr Gray stated his intention of having the decayed timber removed and replaced by sound material. Recommendations : (1) That a moveable skylights be fixed in the roof immediately over bedrooms nos. 6 and 10, said skylights to be fitted with proper means of opening and closing ; also that the floor boards be properly replaced in room no. 8. (2) That a light be provided and kept burning between the hours of sunset and closing time on the first floor landing ; under existing conditions it is positively dangerous to attempt to locate the staircase at night. .63) That all stained and torn wall and ceiling papers be stripped off and replaced by clean material. (4) That all waste pipes be properly trapped and made to discharge over gullies on the sewage drain. (5) That the roof, flashings, spouting and down-pipes be overhauled and repaired, or renewed if necessary. (6) That the old privy adjoining urinal be demolished, and a new privy erected in its stead. (7) That the existing urinal be demolished, and a new urinal erected with a floor of concrete sloped to channels formed to convey waste to guliy-trap ; walls to, be cement-faced concrete or other impervious material, for a height of at least 3ft 6in above floor level ; provision to be made for flushing said urinal. (8) That the concrete work around the grease trap, also joint between vent shaft and drain, be put in proper repair, (g) That all decayed timber in hotel building be removed, and replaced by sound timber. —C. A. Schauer, Chief Inspector.” One or two of his recommendations I take exception to, and these are; (Ist) Bedrooms, fairly clean. The inspection was made about 8.30 a.m., before the beds were made or rooms cleaned out after being used, hut still he says, bedding clean and ample. (2nd) Light on first floor of landing : Two acetylene gas jets were placed in this position about five or six years ago, and have been lighted every night, from that date. (3rd) Decayed timber. Three boards about 6ft long, behind where a tank stood, were decayed and I had them renewed some time back, the carpenter who did this, assuring me that the timber in the Post Office Hotel was equal to, if not better, than the new timber used at the present time. Thanking you for inserting this, —I am, etc., George Gray, Licensee P.O. Hotel,