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Pahiatua Herald, Volume II, Issue 107, 5 February 1894, Page 2

When people become poor and wretched from whatever cause, whether old age, sickness, or misfortune, what is their prime necessity ? A home ? A roof over their head and something to eat I How is this usually supplied ? As the price of their degradation. Under the most favorable oircumstances they are provided with the shelter of a cheap lodging-house or old men’s home. This implies enforced idleness—just the thing the well-disposed would avoid. If the gates of publio benevolence were closed against them, as most frequently occours, they have one alternative. Either they must Btarve or commit some crime. If they do steal or injure property, then poverty must be construed vagrancy, which is a crime. Surely there is something for the aged and unfortunate better than the gaol or the workhonse. They are costly to construct and need supervision. They are as cruel as the cages in which the Druids of old roasted their human sacrifices. Why not allot them suitable plots of land and allow them, like the coral insect, to build for one another ? They could grow food enough for their own support. If favorably located they would be a burden to no one, and they would not become demoralised.