MARRIED LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 67, 18 March 1908, Page 8

MARRIED LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

(To the Editor.) I Sir, —As one who has a wide and I varied experience in various countries I and amongst all kinds of people, I take . upon myself the privilege of writing a j few lines about married life in New Zealand amongst the poorer classes. How j can a married man getting the. factory wage of £2 2/ per week honourably pay all his debts for the necessaries of life, considering the exorbitant price of some kinds of food. Under such circumstances it is no wonder that people get to know how to prevent bringing a poor child into this world to be a worry to its parents in early life, and a burden to itself when an adult. No wonder there is so much self-destruction in this country, and so much other sin of the worst I kind when we consider all we have to live for. The high charges for medical attendance and nursing in maternity cases are directly responsible for many lives and numerous ruined constitutions, through people in poor circumstances being loth to call a doctor to prevent a debt they are unable honourably to pay, often soliciting a professional call when too late, and in many cases they suffer through a shortened life absolutely without professional aid. Now if marriages and births are to be expected to increase in New Zealand, the Government will cither have to reduce the medical fees all round, or provide trained nurses and doctors to attend the. poor.—l am etc. HOMELESS MARRIED WORKER.'