ROTO ROA IS UTOPIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 339, 26 April 1928, Page 1

ROTO ROA IS UTOPIA

CARE OF INEBRIATES MINISTERIAL INSPECTION If there be a Utopia for drinksodden souls, if there exists a haven for complacent reflection on past indiscretions, that place must be Roto Roa, the island in the Hauraki Gulf, where chronic inebriates are accommodated in an environment of reform and. clean living. Koto Roa, together with its companion island, Pakatoa, is not a prison, but an island farm where about 35 men patients are recovering from the ramifications of alcoholic excess. Pakatoa provides a home for about a dozen women who similarly have become victims of alcoholism. The Minister of Justice, the Hon. J. Rolleston, inspected both islands yesterday and saw for himself the ??fect of the Salvation Army officers’ work there.

On Roto Roa each man is occupied in ;3ome light duties in the picturesque gardens and lawns, or about the homestead, or on the farm. There are cows, pigs, poultry, sheep, and even a little store on the island home, w r hile a bowling green, billiard tables and other facilities fill the leisure moments.

Everything is calculated for comfort and quietude—everything is removed from th© influence of the mainland }if® and the bright lights of the bar. The Minister his profound Ratification at the nature of the work, on both Roto Roa and Pakatoa.

In charge at Roto Roa is Major W. Home, of the Salvation Army, and at Pakatoa Adjutant Bolton, their staff commander being Lieutenant-Colonel H. Simpson, Dominion social secreary, W ho was present at yesterday’s inspection.