The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-01
A NEW ZEALAND HOTEL.
Hospitality in the W1ds of the An
tipodes.
London Globe.


The bush hotel keeper is a person of no
small Importance. wherever he may reside,
and. in proportion to the distance his es-
Establishment may find itself from the CEN
tiers OF civilization, the more varied become
his functions, whether official or merely de-
volving upon him from force of custom.
TO class him solely as an ordinary server Of
meat and drink would be to do him a wrong
which he, fully alive to the exigencies Of
Ids post. would be the first to resent. For
his house, humble in outward appearance
though it may be, represents to the sparse
ly scattered inhabitants Of the surrounding
country their one linz with the busy outer
world. If there is news to the fore, who
can circulate it but him? Should the matter
concern gossip-for even in the bush there
Is gossip-he outvies even the traditional
village barber. and has. further, in his
usual Office OF postmaster, supreme adj
vantage over the latter worthy.
The building in which he reigns-possibly
within hail of another, but, more probably,
miles distant from a neighbor-is impress
sive only by reason Of it's significance. It's
architecture is often but little removed
from that Of a lowly, everyday shanty;
uevertheless, by the inviolable law of the
bush it is an hotel for all that. However
miniature it may be in size, less exalted
term Of description would almost certainly
cause its few planks to fall, shuddering
with horror, to the ground. For 1t repre-
sents to all about the hub around which
slowly perhaps-the district revolves, and
from far and near the bushmen look TO 1t
as the center OF their lonely world So little,
indeed, is the establishment regarded by
them in the light of a mere depository for
creature comforts that the nearer neigh
bors, at all events, rarely, If ever, use 1T for
the purpose usually understood to be served
by an hotel.
1T is the wayfarers, the drovers with their
cattle, the stockriders with their mobs
of horses, who passing through on their
way to some distant market, halt by its
hospitable door for the business or refresh
ment solely, and it is from these that the
news to be doled out is extracted AL
though, during the summer, such visitors
may be comparatively numerous, yet In
winter. when the roads wallow deep IN
are few and far between; the gossip and
news. in consequence, filter through In more
meagre driblets. But, even then. mine host
IS the pOSsessor of information of more
vital order. Should the ford lie a fathom
deep below the swirling flood, or ere
vase, newly torn, lurk in the sodden cut
ting, 1t is he who knows of ii and spreads
the warning word The very nature of his
office. in fact. constitutes him something of
a friend and adviser to all men.
. OF the number of bush hotel keepers the
proportion of Irish of Irish descent is
astohishingly large. So much do these pre-
ponderate, indeed, that one is almost safe
I'm alIuding to them as the normal repre-
sentatiyes of the class. Fine, Jovial fellows
they are for the most part, suffering from
no surfeit of education, but connoisseurs in
human nature, and mercifully, entirely
vexed by politics, If from these may be ex-'
cepted the burning questions OF the local
liquor regulations. Imbued with an intense
passion for the turf as they are, Ii is sell
dom that a racehorse of greater or lesser
pretensions, as the case may be, may not
hood of their homesteads, between the more
thrilling intervals OF training near the far
away townships. Not infrequently, too. he
is a fancier of sheep dogs, and, In his lels-
ure hours, which, naturally enough, are
plentiful, will break the raw youngsters
Into a knowledge of the work expected of
them. Should he prove a successful breeder,
his dogs will probably sell for a higher
price than his racehorses, state of af-
fairs somewhat Gilbertian, IL the dogs be
judged from their outward appearance,
which usually appears to deteriorate in pro-
portion TO the increased extent of. their
mental capabilities. Occupations such as
these. remunerative enough in themselves.
serve as pastimes without which the win
ter days would be dull and dreary indeed
But perhaps, one of the most striking
traits of the bush hotel keeper is his Unborn
hospitality, quality suitable enough in the
abstract sense to his calling. But the host
of the bush goes far beyond the ordinary
commercial understanding of the word as
applied to his trade. For instance, should
wayfarer of reasonably friendly DISPOSE
proprietor to join him in the cup that, not
outstanding its usually dubious quality,
cheers. il is seldom that the compliment
will not be repaid, in earnest a fashion.
too. that its refusal would be the surest
means OF exit from the landlords good
graces. Viewing the matter from sordid
point of view, 1t is difficult to comprehend
what advantage the landlords pocket de-
rives from the transaction. 1t may be. how
ever, that his policy is not SO shortsighted
as il would appear at the first glance, for,
In the main. he thrives. notwithstanding.
AS is the case with a section OF his Gus
toners, the MaOriS, closer contact with the
centers of civilization has the effect of
rendering his finer qualities less pro-
nounced. The hoteikeeper in the townships
Is much the same as his brethren all the
world over. Unlike the other, his horizon is
bounded by his plateglass windows and by
the bottles in his bar. His colleague on the
outskirts of the cities, although, as becomes
his situation, neither the one thing nor the
other, yet retains certain characteristics of
his own, not invariably commendable. He
Is "A wary bird. of hawklike propensitieS,
aud by no means free from guile He IL is
who welcomes first of all the incoming
bushman downward bent. with check in his
pocket and thirst upon his tongue. And his
especial care he makes il that the visitors
stay shall be neither too short nor too I'M
eventful He counts Ii a triumph. in
deed, If his guest. a victim of his skilful
manipulation, remains, for want of the
power TO move. under his roof until the last
sixpence has passed from his possession i'm
exchange for the liquid that has grown
ranker and yet more rank in proportion as
the brain of the unfortunate dupe has lost
its faculty OF discernment Then IL is that
the bushman, his trip TO the township in
gl0riously arrested in midcareer, returns
after time whence he came, sadder. but
seldom wiser man. Hotelkeepers OF this
class, too. not infreQuently ill the post of
poundkeeper (for even in the neighborhood
OF antipodean townships such inconvenient
Institutions are found necessary, and their
neighbors are wont to assert that the stray
ing pT0pensitieS OF the stock in the vicinity
Increase decrease in accordance with
81 ri nF hril nf ha Esrata hs.e4
ness OF the hotel There are even rumors of
surreptitiously opened gates, of lightly
conscienced boys bribed for the purpose,
and OF many similar atrocities. but how
ever fil-natuFed these reports may be, il is
certain that IN such cases the pound yields
a revenue TO its keeper which he would be
most unwilling to forego- But then the
methods OF such as these, parasiticaI as
tIey are, must not for moment be con-
founded with those of the genuine bush
hotelkeeper. who is. of necessity. the friend
OF all. IA whose region pounds are unknown.
and who, IL he would live at ALL must rem
der help 70 others as he would receive 1t
himself.