A MODEL COLONY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3966, 24 June 1887, Page 4

A MODEL COLONY.

'It has been said that Mildura— tho large tract of land m Australia which the well-known firm of Chaff ey Brother have taken over for the purpose of irrigation —is to be a "prohibition settlement;" that is to say, within its boundaries no intoxicating drink 3 will be sold. 1 That's not so,' said Mr William Chaffey to the representative of an exchange recently, and I am very glad to have a tulk with you to tell you what our intentions are. Just let me say r^ght m tho first place that I am not a teetotaller, neither is any member of our firm, and we do not believe m compelling a man to be one either. It would not be right if T said to all our people, " You shall not drink ;" and I would not like it said to me. But what I Eay is this : Our intention is to have no hotels at Mildura, where liqour can be sold to be drunk on the premises. That does not prevent the issue of grocers' licenses, to which we have no objection. Then if a man wants to have drink, ho will have to take it m his own house. We have good reason for this. You know tho land we irrigate is to be sold by pay ments — small payments, too — extending over a long period and we cannot afford to have our settlers drinking m public houses, so we just want to move the temptation out of the way. If a man can spare 6d. for a glass of beer, he might just as well have a bottle, and take it at home. It is just a matter of dollars and cents — that's the way we look at it. And we are not the only ones who are benefited, for the settlers themselves will thrive as fast again as they otherwise would. Past experience tells us a lot. Let us take our Californian settlement. When we said that we were going m for temperance and prohibition m all townships on our places, people shook their heads, and guesaed wo would'nt be able to bring it off. "AT right." we said "we'll have a try, at all events," and now I tell you that the people who are on our lands are the best and most thriving of any farmers m California. Suppose a public-house was opened amongst them now. The man who ran it would have all the drinking to himself ; the settlers would never look at it. I tell you, there is other proof. Beyond our boundaries, of course, we have no voice, and there you will find hotels enough. Just go and look at the farms round them. Look at the people, then turn back on our settlement, and see the contrast. In our colonies you can see the surroundings that belong to cultured homes. Why, it is most plain. Well, it succeeded m California, and it is going to do the same m Victoria, if we have our way, and know anything about it. It would be really foolish if we said there should be no drink at Mildura. I don't want people to think we are going to cram our opinions down their throats whether they like it or not, and have just our own way. Nothing of the sort. Here's the thing m a perfectly clear light. Without the public housesjthey will thrive twice as well as they would if they had them. It is no goodmybeingin too much of ahurry either, for I really do not know if we can prohibit hotels, but we are going to have a big try. We have seen the Premier, laid the whole case before him, and he has promised that the Cabinet ■ shall consider it m the way of giving us legislation should it be necesgary. You know if we said there should not be any drink it would be tantamount to preventing grapes being grown — the very thing we are going to encourage, for I can tell you I have m my head the floating of a company to carry on wine raising on a big scale. I thiuk if you will tell the people this they will understand wo are not going to bind them down with a lot of hard and fast rules. There is one more thing I want to say about California and our settlements there. The townships, you know, are 160 acres m size, and m this there is prohibition absolute. Beyond the lines liquor can be sold, but only m bulk or m bottle, and it muat not be drunk on premises. The plan we now propose is almost the same, the only difference baing that grocer's licenses may be issued for the township as well as elsewhere. We will put the plan into force at Bookmark, the land on the South Australian border, and kuow it will prove the success we anticipate. I guess that' 3 all we have to say about it. 1