POOR HOTELS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 1

POOR HOTELS

SWISS VISITORS ARE CRITICAL! “INTERESTING” AUCKLAND “We found that some of the hotel accommodation, particularly on the West Coast of the South Island, was rough and much below European standard,” said Mr. P. J. Haffter, a Swiss visitor, who, with his wife, has just completed several weeks’ motor* touring in New Zealand. “Some of the hotel bedrooms could not be locked, and a few hotels were very dirty,” added Mr. Haffter, who is a world traveller of experience. “And they made us pay dearly for it. too,” supplemented Mrs. Haffter. At one hotel the visitors were charged £1 a day for the convenience of a bathroom, they said. The careless way in which New Zealanders destroyed the native forest appalled the visitors. Mrs. Haffter, particularly, regretted this. “They cut and burn down the forests, for what?” she asked, and then supplied her own answer to the query; “Merely to grow fern, which is worthless.” The glow-worm caves were generously praised. Auckland City was classed as “very interesting,” the zoo was found to be “quite European” and “well laid out.” The volcanic cones, and the views of the city and surroundings to be obtained from the summits of the cones, several of which were visited, appealed to Mr. and Mrs. Haffter, but the longstretches of uninteresting country which had to be traversed in reaching points of interest wearied them. The visitors reached Australia from Java; they did not expect much there in the way of scenic wonders, and were not disappointed. Jenolan caves were found to be similar to caves in many other parts of the world. "To tell the truth,” remarked Mr. Haffter, “I do not know why people go to Australia for scenic touring. We are satisfied with our tour of New Zealand, but in many ways the facilities for tourists could be bettered.”