1958: Hermitage Lodge
February 19, 2021
By AHNZ
The Hermitage Hotel (est. 1884) has long been bounced back and forth as a jewel in the crown of whichever Government is in power. Like the economy as a whole, people are sometimes willing to burn it to the ground in order to be in control of it.
The State first seized Mt Cook’s famous hotel in 1895 in what was unusual for the time- a Government that ran a hotel. Apparently free people were not capable but politicians were.
This image (left) dates from the Tourist Hotel Corporation period where National 1.0 took over New Zealand tourist hotels and ran them as a state monopoly. The way to doing this was smoothed by the PURELY ACCIDENTAL AND COINCIDENTAL burning down of the Hermitage (again) and Franz Josef Glacier Hotel in near succession.
Timeline
August 1954, Franz Josef Glacier Hotel destroyed
24 August, 1955 First reading of the Tourist Hotel Corporation Act; THC Period begins
17 September 1957, Hermitage Hotel completely destroyed by fire (Labour 1.0 jewel gone)
May 1958, Hermitage Hotel re-opens (National 1.0 jewel aquired)
1990 Labour 4.0 sells off the Hermitage Hotel along with many other ‘State’ assets¹. It is purchased by ex-Queenstown Mayor John Davies.
Future
Of course the new Government, Labour 6.0, wants control over The Hermitage Hotel and to be the recipient of its earnings in return for political patronage. The pretence on this occasion has been the COVID-19 Lockdown which as led to the Hermitage being shut down and the likely loss of about 170 staff.
Certainly the Hermitage Hotel will rise again, never fear. Next time it will be in the control of Labour 6.0 affiliated people. Eventually it will, of course, be wrested from them again by a future Government and hopefully it need not burn down nor anyone die in flames to achieve this. The secret to a happy life if you’re a hotel is to not become the football of politicians!
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1 Selling assets is just another way our governments shift political control from the hands of previous governments and into their own or their own people’s hands. Privatising public property is no different to burning it down and re-building under a new masthead (Labour’s, National’s) but it is a more civilised form of warfare.
Image ref. Alexander Turnbull Library
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