STATE FARMS AND HOTELS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10594, 1 March 1895, Page 4

STATE FARMS AND HOTELS.

The success of the State Farm near Levin is a matter of interest to social students in all parts of the colony. Anything, therefore, that is likely to interfere with its progress is not an affair of mere local concern. This is our reason for drawing attention to the attempt now being made to transfer a hotel license from another part of ’ the district to an accommodation house close to the farm. It seems that a new township called Wereroa has been laid out there. Last year an application was made to have a license transferred from the township of Manakau, about nine miles distant, to Wereroa. This application was defeated in December last, though only by the casting vote of the official chairman of the Licensing Committee. In a few days another application is to be made at the quarterly meeting of the Otaki committee, and, as a fresh magistrate has" been appointed to the district, the applicants, doubtless, think it possible that he, as chairman of the committee, may take a different view from that of his predecessor. We are glad to see that the Government does not sympathise with the application, and has instructed the Crown Prosecutor in Wellington to oppose it. Unluckily the position has been complicated by an indiscreet article which appeared in the Prohibitionist a few months ago. The writer of the article declared that several women, as well as men, on thefarm were confirmed drunkards, and that the establishment of a licensed house at their door would take away the last chance of reform “ these poor wrecks ” could have. Naturally, the residents on the State Farm are much annoyed by this very foolish language. They have no wish, we believe, to see a licensed house opened in their neighbourhood ; but it is only in accord with human nature that they should just now be more disposed to resent the terms applied to them by the Prohibitionist than to actively exert themselves to keep the hotel away. But our advice to them and to the other residents in the neighbourhood is to disregard the offensive article, and to oppose the application for the license. The State Farm is not an asylum for inebriates, but it contains amongst its inmates a class of persona yikot all th© batteu-ior mo^

having temptation constantly before their eyes. They have no money to waste upon liquor, and leading, as they do, a healthy out-door life, they have no need for stimulants. We thoroughly approve of the action of the Government in opposing the application, and hope to see it successful.