Boosting the Continent .sx We have previously alluded to the thousands of pounds that have been going into the coffers of a number of London and other newspapers for some weeks past in payment of boosting publicity of Continental holiday resorts and the rock-bottom prices at which they can be visited .sx These advertisements have resulted in the M.P. for the Harwich Division ( Mr. P. J. Pybus ) putting a question on the Order Paper of the House of Commons asking the Secretary to the Department of Overseas Trade " whether , in view of the intense publicity campaign which is being conducted in the advertising columns of the Press and elsewhere in favour of Continental watering-places , the method being to belittle English seaside resorts and emphasise by contrast the absence abroad of restrictions , he will allocate from one of the funds at his disposal a sum of money sufficient to finance a campaign to counteract such propaganda ?sx " When referring to the action of the M.P. , an Eastern Counties newspaper that circulates in quite a good few popular seaside resorts expressed themselves as follows :sx " It is , of course , very doubtful whether our flint-faced Chancellor will make the required response to Mr. Pybus's request , but that should not deter those persons directly interested in contesting this kind of solicitation - admittedly astute and in some respects justified - from combating it themselves .sx The hotel and boarding-house proprietors should do more in combination to ensure that the holiday-making public are not attracted to the Continent .sx " Our idea is that it is the railway companies that should do more in the direction of keeping holiday-makers in Britain by advertisement and lower fares than has hitherto been customary .sx If railway companies would join hands with hotel proprietors and advertise " all-in " moderate rates for holidays in Britain , it might be the means of inducing tens of thousands of British people Seeing their Own .sx Country , instead of year after year spending tens of thousands of pounds on the Continent .sx We are great believers in the good that can be obtained from oversea travel , but in these sorry times it is being greatly overdone and far too greatly encouraged .sx Multitudes of English people have never yet visited Scotland , Ireland , Wales or even picturesque Derby-shire , Devon or Cornwall .sx High railway fares have been more responsible for this than high hotel charges or lack of hotel and boarding-house accommodation .sx Public Schoolboys in Hotels .sx A few weeks back wide interest was excited by a letter appearing in the Daily Mail in which Mr. R. C. Vaughan pointed out the advantages that might come to pass to the hotel industry if more public schoolboys could be given training with a view to eventually taking managerial control of first-class establishments .sx The interest has since been enhanced by the news-paper publicity that has been given to the training of the young Etonian , the Hon .sx David Rhys , youngest son of Lord and Lady Dynever , recently commenced at the Hotel Metropole , Northumberland Avenue , London .sx We were not surprised when we learnt that Mr. Rhys had commenced a two years' apprenticeship at the Hotel Metropole , for no hotelier has done more towards bringing highly educated youths into the British hotel industry than Sir Francis Towle , C.B.E. , managing director of Gordon Hotels , Ltd. Sir Francis has " practised what he has preached " in regard to the training of cultured Englishmen for first-class British hotel management .sx The letter of Mr. Vaughan has been followed up by so many public schoolboys ( more especially since Mr. Rhys has given particulars of his hotel kitchen experience to Press representatives ) that both Mr. S. W. Burleigh , general secretary of the H.R.A. , and the manager of the Ministry of Labour Hotel and Catering Trades Employment Exchange , have had applications for names of hotels where training is possible .sx At present there are more applicants for training than there are known opportunities .sx We hope the latter will soon catch up with the former , the advantages to the British hotel industry being so very obvious .sx Municipal Built Hotels .sx For several years past Hull has been agitating for more hotel accommodation , although Hull hotel proprietors have demonstrated that it is only occasionally , and never on more than two days of the week , that present hotel accommodation is not all that is necessary for their city .sx Evidently Hull is in possession of some aldermen and councillors who are of opinion that their city would be benefited if it could come into possession of a large up-to-date hotel .sx In fact , to such an extent that at a recent meeting of the Hull Housing and Town Planning Committee it was recommended that the City Council adopt a provisional agreement as to terms of building and leasing an hotel .sx The Chairman of the Committee reported that negotiations had been carried on with Mr. T. C. Gordon , of London and Glasgow , and it had been agreed , subject to the approval of the Council , that an hotel be erected by the Corporation at an estimated cost of 13,000 , on a site of a capital value of 27,500 , that it be leased to Mr. Gordon for a term of 89 years on a form to be approved by the Town Clerk , at a rent to be assessed in respect of construction at a sum equivalent to 51 per cent .sx , and in respect of the capital value of the site at a sum to be calculated on the schedule previously agreed upon by the Committee .sx The Chairman further said the architect had embodied ideas in the plans obtained during a visit to America .sx On the ground floor there would be a banqueting hall , reception room , grill room and foyer on the first floor , rooms available for conferences , and there would be 140 bedrooms .sx The furnishing on the ground floor and first floor would be to the satisfaction of the Corporation .sx It would be a fully licensed hotel .sx If the Hull City Council does ratify this agreement Mr. T. C. Gordon will not only have been the means of supplying Hull with a big up-to-date hotel , but he will have been the means of setting a precedent that may lead to quite a number of English cities and towns solving their alleged serious hotel shortage problems .sx Charges for Hotel Bedside Lights .sx The other week the widely known Yorkshire Post , in a leading article on hotels and motorists , made some rather sweeping statements , and which certainly surprised us through their appearance in such a powerful and old established paper .sx After stating that " to decide in general terms what is a fair charge for a night's lodging is scarcely possible , since the style of hotel accommodation varies so immensely , " the paper went on to say :sx " Hotels which can withstand the temptations of monopoly may be common in Utopia , but they are very rare to-day .sx Every motorist knows that ' take it or leave it ' atmosphere , that very mediocre dinner priced at 6s .sx or 7s .sx , that cheerless bedroom , and that indifferent service .sx Fortunately , the hotels really exposed to such temptation in its extreme form are not very numerous , and those where its results are evident do not always profit much in the end , for they gradually become known among motorists and strenuously avoided .sx " The plague of ' extras ' - in which ' tips ' must be included - is far more common .sx Most hotels charge extra for garage , and a good many for baths .sx In winter your bedroom will often be freezing unless you pay extra for a fire .sx Occasionally a bedside light is supplied only to order , and at a price , and the charge for breakfast often still excludes even the commonest variety of fresh fruit .sx " Hotel charges for a bedside light may exist , but we have no knowledge of anything of the kind .sx The news-paper certainly states that the charges are " occasionally " made , and this must mean so occasionally we have never heard of such a thing .sx And we should hardly have expected any great daily newspaper suggesting that it should become general for no extra charge for garage accommodation .sx It would be equally fair to suggest no charge for petrol , or oats and beans for a traveller's horse or horses .sx RESTAURANT & HOTEL MEMS .sx 1,151 New Hotels and Restaurants ?sx The assessment figures given iii the annual report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue show that last year alone 239,7811 new buildings came into being .sx The figures included 27-1 hotels , restaurants , etc. .sx The total figures for the past four years show there have been erected 1,151 hotels , restaurants , etc. .sx We think " etc. " must be a very easy winner in the total of 1,151 .sx We certainly have no record of any such number , and should be greatly interested to run through such a record .sx The Hotel Leeds Has Dreamt Of .sx For many years the citizens of Leeds have been hoping and dreaming that one day , they would possess a railway hotel of the magnitude and beauty of the Adelphi , Liverpool .sx We learn that there is a possibility that at no distant date the L.M.S. Company will grace the City Square with such an hotel , for the plans have already been prepared , and there is every likelihood that they will be approved by the Company .sx Canadian Pacific's London Hotel .sx At present no building operations have commenced on the million sterling Canadian Pacific Hotel in Berkeley Square .sx Where the long-discussed hotel is likely to come into being a portion of the property is still in existence , and still occupied by residents .sx The latest news we have of the great enterprise is that it is not likely to be commenced before the end of the present year .sx Kit-Cat Restaurant Petition .sx The Kit-Cat Restaurants Company , registered in 1928 to acquire the business of the Haymarket Kit-Cat Restaurant , the Cafe Anglais and Cavour Bar , and the Hotel de Paris , Bray , Maidenhead , with an issued and paid capital of 130,000 , have presented a petition for the winding-up of the company , and which has been directed to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice on March 23 .sx The rebuilt restaurant accommodates 1,000 diners .sx It was the first restaurant to have a woman orchestra leader ; the first to have a midget golf course in London , and a show of Ascot frocks valued at 10,000 was held there in the year it opened .sx The " Tudor " Room restaurant is being kept open for the licence .sx Queen's Highcliffe New Management .sx In hotel managerial circles considerable interest has been taken for some weeks past in respect to the appoint-ment of successor to the late Mr. T. A. Almond , resident manager of the Queen's Highcliffe Hotel , Cliftonville , Margate .sx Recently the hotel's directorate gave the appointment to Mr. A. E. Davies , manager of the Prince of Wales' Hotel , Southport , and who will take over his new direction on Monday , the 30th inst .sx Mr. Davies commenced his hotel career in the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company's Refreshment Department offices in 1911 , and eventually became assistant manager at the Exchange Station Hotel , Liverpool .sx After serving a couple of years in the Army Mr. Davies returned to his duties at Liverpool , where he remained until 1920 .sx From 1920 to 1922 he was assistant manager of the Royal Hibernian Hotel , Dublin , assistant manager of the Sleive Donard Hotel , Newcastle , Co. Down , 1922-24 , and then returned to England to take over the manage-ment of the Prince of Wales Hotel , Southport .sx The numerous friends of Mr. Davies in the hotel world will join with us in wishing him every possible success in his first appointment in the south of England , and at an hotel of such high repute as the Queen's Highcliffe , Cliftonville .sx Cafe Royal Not To Be Resold .sx A newspaper statement to the effect that London's famous Cafe Royal was to be resold quickly met with a very pronounced and pleasing denial .sx We were astounded at the statement , because we knew of the excellent progress the restaurant has made under its new regime , also that it is fast assuming its old-time real Cafe Royal atmosphere .sx And not only did Mr. Bracewell Smith say that Mr. George Harvey and himself had no thought of selling the restaurant , but , he said , the restaurant is being carried on very successfully .sx