COLOUR BAR IN LONDON

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 7

COLOUR BAR IN LONDON

NEGRO REFUSED ADMISSION TO HOTELS STATEMENT DENIED There is much discussion, writes the London correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian Weekly,” of the case of the wealthy American negro who complains that he was refused admission at 30 London hotels. Is there or is there not any discrimination in the hotels against negroes oil the score of colour? Hotel managers who have been consulted all refuse to admit that there is, but a different answer is given me by a well-known worker in the cause of the native races who often assists natives visiting London to find accommodation. He says that it is well known that certain London hotels do not accept negroes as

guests. These hotels, he states, are those with an important clientele of white Americans, and it is due to the fact that . the latter fiave not been known to stay in the same hotel with negroes. On the other hand, some hotel-keepers refuse to discriminate in this way.

My informant adds that the same "colour bar” operates against admission of negroes into London clubs, and he says that there is only one club in London, and that a famous political club, that admits natives to membership on the same terms as white men.

With the illiberal attitude that prevails in some London hotels and clubs he contrasts the position iu Prance. Some years ago there was a case in point which attained wide publicity. The manager of a Paris restauiant refused to serve some Senegalese soldiers owing to the objection of Americans who were there M. Poincare, who was then Prime Minister, took the question up strongly and sent a message to the manager that if he did such a thing again his restaurant would be closed. Coloured subjects were as much Frenchmen as anyone else, and the Government would not tolerate any distinctions being made. The London hotel managers’ reply to the accusation is a denial. At one very well known hotel much frequented by people of all nationalities it was stated that “all visitors are treated alike on their status and character,” and that there is no other rule on the subject. No case had ever arisen in which the presence of a coloured visitor was objected to by other guests. It was pointed out that this is the height of the touring season, and most London hotels are very full. Consequently it is quite likely

that when the American negro was told at 30 hotels that there was no room he was being told the truth. His name, by the way, is Mr. Robert S. Abbott, and he is the owner and editor of the “Chicago Defender,” one of the largest newspapers catering for the coloured population in America. Mr. Abbott states that while touring the Continent he was treated just like anyone else. When he came to London he found a room in an hotel, but was asked to leave the hotel after one night’s stay, and after that tried 30 hotels without success. Mr. Abbott has a white wife.