BRITISH SPAS
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,— I have read your article on " British Spas in the ,Spectator with great interest; and as one who claims to know intimately six of the principal British Spas as well as several Continental ones I would like to make the following com- ments. In my experience the drawback in many of our Spas is that they do not really cater for the same class of people as the Continental ones : they are run to appeal to the large overflowing middle classes who are not fastidious about details, and while I quite agree with the writer of your article as to English Spas leading in sanitation and up-to-date equip- ment, this is spoilt by the poor attendance, the perfunctory way in which visitors are treated, the complete lack of the pleasant welcome given at foreign Spas, and the roughness and indifference of the bathing women and not infrequently of the masseuses, the want of care as to towels, combs, cobwebs and dust ! Let me cite a few instances of what I have come across. The only waiting room at one establish- ment has horse-hair sofas too high and slippery for any person to mount in comfort, let alone any crippled person, and the only literature provided on the grained-oak table (reminis- cent of a third-class_ waiting room) were tracts of an exclu- sively narrow type. The swing door leading to the Baths was so heavy that one poor lady I saw on crutches could not get through, but the attendant looking on did not consider it his business to hold it open for her, likewise the Bath women considered it too much trouble to help anyone on with their stockings or help in any way. The cabins for undressing in were so primitive there was not room to turn round or hang anything up, and while waiting peoPle either have to stand bare foot on the stone floor or use someone else's discarded towel ! Another complaint I frequently hear is that people are left in their Baths till the water gets cold because the Bath women are too busy with others to fit them in at the right time ; then the towels are often not hot and the patient may have to wait about after the Bath because the attendant doe.s not bring them, and bad chills are the consequence.
I have spoken so far only of the " Baths," but if we consider hotels at these Spas I would suggest that while the best hotels equal the foreign ones in comfort they are very much dearer, and the second-class hotels are immeasurably inferior.: To the new poor the good food, simple accommodation,' and ex- cellent beds that can be had on the Continent for half the price of the second-rate English hotels is probably the determining factor in causing them to choose foreign Spas rather than British. Of the many other points I could enumerate if space permitted, I would just add that dressing-rooms should be both warmed in cold weather and properly ventilated. A recent instance of an elderly person being sent straight from a steaming Bath to a dank cold dressing-room that had hardly been in use this stunmer, the heating apparatus being disused, is not unique! I have said nothing here about the climate as that we cannot control, but there can be no doubt that hours of sunshine which enable people unable to walk far to sit out in the fresh air; are an enormous asset. All the more should British Spas try and attract by their superior comfort and organization. Lastly it is, I think, an open secret that in many cases the doetors nominally responsible for the cure are, much hampered by the proprietors or syndi- cates whose point of view is frequently a purely commercial one and who are not far-sighted enough to see that. " cheese- paring " in the way of attendants, heating, and sufficiency of towels, etc., will only defeat their own objects and drive people to the more liberal foreign resorts.—I am, Sir, &c.,
A Si.'FFE.E.mt.
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