BOARDING DIFFICULTIES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 369, 25 February 1937, Page 2

BOARDING DIFFICULTIES

EFFECT OF SHORT WEEK. Smaller City Houses Suffer Proprietors of smaller boardinghouses in the principal cities., who have been greatly concerned by th'? restrictions imposed by the introduction ot the shorter working week and

higher wages for their employees, have now become so seriously affected that in several instances? their properties have either been closed down or placed on the market for sale. The reduction from 15 to five of the number of boarders necessary to constitute a private hotel is generally blamed for the imposition of the present restriction on the proprietors of the smaller establishments. The

effect of this alteration has been to bring a larger number of private boardinghouses under the requirements governing private hotels, with the consequent closer supervision of staffing arrangements. In most cases houses which were previously carried on satisfactorily with one assistant now require to carry a properly graded staff of two or three or more, the members of which have to be classified according to the nature of the duties performed. Proprietors in most casts express ho unwillingness to pay the higher wages prescribed in the recent award for private hotel employees, but they state that the reduction of the length of the working week has presented difficulties which they find in-

surmountable. In many cases, it is claimed, staffs have had to be doubled almost solely for the purpose of allowing one employee a weekly holiday. What makes the pill more bitter is that tile employees too often do not appreciate the holiday themselves, and would prefer -to be working rather thzft have time off when there is little facility for enjoying it. Reducing Number of Boarders, Those hardest hit appear to be the establishments with from eight to about 12 boarders. At least one of these premises has closed down, and already a number have been placed on the market for disposal either as going concerns or for subdivision into flats or apartment houses. Others are carrying on in the hope that the regulations may be modified so as to make the restrictions weigh less heavily upon them. The proprietress of one Wellington concern recently stated that she had had to reduce the number et boarders in her house to avoid classification as a private hotel, and those whom she had previously boarded were now being given bed and breakfast. This solution, however, was by no means satisfactory, at her tenants found it very inconvenient to have to search the city for meals during Sundays and holidays. Another marked effect ot the position is the keen demand for board by bank clerks and others who have no option but to board when they are ■ living away from home. Many applicants have been puzzled and dismayed to find themselves turned away at house after house. * Two visitors from Sydney who visited a city establishment recently revealed that they had tried at least eight places in their search for private accommodation, and they were bewildered and dismayed to find that New Zealand was a country where boarders apparently were not welcome.