THE INDIGNATION OF LEVIN.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9046, 23 March 1908, Page 4

THE INDIGNATION OF LEVIN.

The residents of Levin are so grievously incensed at not getting the State Dairy School located in their midst, that they decided that it was unnecessary to retain the Experimental Farm there any longer, and that the land should be sola. The Minister told them that he had intended carrying out some extensive works on the farm, but as the people did not seem to appreciate that institution the works would not be proceeded with. He also informed them that it might be advisable to accept an offer that had been made [by Mr W. C. Buchanan] of £6,000 to establish an experimental farm in the Wairarapa, and remove the Levin State Farm "to the other side of the range." Thereupon a letter was sent from Levin to Mr McNab enquiring the nature and extent of the buildings it was proposed to erect on the farm, intimating that this information might save a lot of trouble. The Minister's answer to this included a severe rebuff to the applicants. '• He wrote:—"Regret I cannot see my way to supply you with nature and extent of buildings to be erected. Compliance with your wish would suggest that tHe people of Levin would not press for the farm bsing sold if public money was to be expended in their district. That, I do not think, is their view. A number cf residents of Levin hold the opinion—whether rightly or wrongly. I do not say—that the farm is a white elephant, and useless unless associated with the dairy school. That view is—there is no disguising the fact—held very largely over New Zealand. Therefore, if the residents of Levin do not want it, people ask why should it remain there any longer. If £6,030 can be secured to shift it away from where the residents do not want it, why should it not be shifted? I canint see my way to prejudice an expression o£ opinion by the people of Levin that it should be shifted by sending you the information asked. The decision, of course, is not theirs; it is the decision of the department, but I do not anticipate any difficulty of the department being able to give expression to the wishes of the people if it is their wish to close up the whole farm and go elsewhere." It is to be hoped that the experimental farm will come to this district, where it will doubtless be duly appreciated.