WHISKY VERSUS BABIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 180, 29 July 1916, Page 15

WHISKY VERSUS BABIES.

ALARMING INFANT MORTALITY. At the annual conference of the Association of Teachers of Domestic Subjects held in London recently, Dr. C. W. Salesby sold: "In Pads the infantile death-rate has fallen to the lowest on record, hut In prosperous, unlnvaded it has risen to 123 per thousand, because mothers are drinking the abomination called Scotch whisky." Seen by a "Dally News" representative, Dr. Salesby amplified the point he made. "In Scotland," he said, "they will have to choose between Scotsmen and Scots whisky, They cannot have both, for whisky is one of the most efficient frabyklllers known. Beer is innocuous in comparison. -The birth-rate in Edinburgh last year--18 per KK»-was the lowest on record in any city, while the death-rate was the highest. Yet Edinburgh was never more prosperous, and never was more done for the care of children. It is due chiefly to whisky drinking among the women, and In a lesser degree to the working of married women In munition actories and the consequent negles of children. "Compare Paris, which introduced a law preventing women from obtaining liquor In spite of the terrible war conditions hables were never more numerous or more healthy than they were last year, and the rate of mortality was very low. Thig is one of the most remarkable facts In history. "The devotion of hundreds of Frenchwomen who have made the care of mother* and infante their particular form of war work has also much to do with it. Now that many married woman have begun to work in French. munition factories, thingsare not quite so-satisfactory. The mother's place is in the home." "But what about those women who from economic reasons are compelled to go out to work?" Dr. Salesby was asked. "For those," said Dr. Salesby, "I would suggest that manufacturers and employers should provide creches on ■ the premises, thus enabling mothers to see their Infants at Intervals during the day. The Ministry of Munitions ought to see that these creches are provided. No outsider, however capable and kindhearted, can 'mother' a child like its own parent, and It Is this •mothering' that The babies need more than anything else.*'