SOUTHAMPTON IMPERIAL HOTEL: This large and magnificent hotel having been opened to the public a short time since, a number of gentlemen connected with the mail steam shipping companies frequenting this port were invited by the directors on Saturday to inspect the building and afterwards to partake of luncheon. Bigness in our public edifices is now a favourite idea, and a tendency for large hotels having set in, a town and port which is resorted to by so many passengers from all parts of the world, as Southampton, induced a number of capitalists, taking that fact as one of the main bases for their undertaking, to erect in close contiguity to the Railway Terminus and docks an hotel which, for exterior and interior magnificence, vies with any building of the kind either in the provinces or in the metropolis itself. … … (discussion and later speeches) … … Mr. Pond gave “The pursers,” who looked after the creature comforts of those on-board ship, which was a very important department, for if anything went wrong in regard to it the speedy accomplishment of the voyage might be interfered with. Mr. Pinsent, superintendent of the pursers’ department, said after 25 years’ experience in the service he could testify to the importance of a good commissariat on board ship, for if not attended to properly something was certain to go wrong. The pursers had a difficult duty to perform, especially in giving satisfaction to some of their Indian passengers, (hear), but he was bound to say that those engaged in that department of the service were peculiarly fitted for it and performed their duties most efficiently. Those who were interested in that magnificent hotel could not do better than cultivate the good feeling of the officers and surgeons of the Peninsular and Oriental and other steamship companies connected with the port, and he was satisfied from all he had seen that better accommodation for passengers could not be found anywhere.
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0420 India: Henry John Pinsent: 1812 – 1894