POPULATION PROBLEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 237, 6 October 1926, Page 6

POPULATION PROBLEMS.

Changing currents of opinion upon the question of birth control are indicated by the statement of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which he says it is true that he declined to denounce as necessarily sinful all and every method of birth control, though he denounced the mischievous advice of some persons upon the subject. A great change in the attitude of the Church to this question is indicated by Dr. Davidson's statement, even though it is qualified by the succeeding phrase, that under certain circumstances blunt denunciation would be unfair and misleading. But under no circumstances could such a declaration have been made by so high an authority in the Church even a few years ago. The questions of population and the size of the family have caused anxiety to the human race from time immemorial; they are becoming more insistent now that the children of the earth are multiplying so enormously. To-day there are nearly 1,900,000,000 people upon the planet, double the. number of a century ago. The whites alone grow at the rate of five millions a year; the fecundity of the black and yellow races is in greater ratio. It takes two andj a-quarter acres to feed a unit of population—the unit consisting of a family of father, mother, and one child—so that it does not take a very extensive knowledge of arithmetic to discover what future generations will nave to face.

Already * number of nations nave overtaken their capacity to supply their people with food. Britain, for instance, imports one-third of her total foodstuffs, France, Holland and Belgium all do the same thing on a limited scale, and America's surplus for export is gradually being overtaken. Of course, vast regions of the earth's surface are still uncultivated, but in spite- of that the time will come, at the present rate of growth of the human family, when the maximum food supply will be overtaken —a learned authority puts the date at 125 years from now, even allowing for increased fertility by stimulation of the soil. The natural growth of population is complicated by other factors—there is the general prolongation of life, the defeat of epidemics, the higher standard of living, all of which increase the amount of food required. At some time or other the crisis will arise unless Nature, which has a habit of redressing balances, takes a hand in the game and finds her own drastic solution.

A young married man, Mr. Joseph Bridgeman, residing at 31, Liverpool Street, sustained bead injuries last even-, ing through falling from his bicycle near the Town Hall. He was conveyed to the Auckland Hospital in an unconscious condition. To-day he was reported to have regained consciousness, and to be a little better. An operation was performed yesterday on Mr. John Dyer, who was admitted to the Auckland Hospital on Monday suffering from wounds to the throat inflicted with a razor. His condition is reported to be improving. In the Central Summons Court at Sydney last week Joseph Edmondson, Thomas Moore and John Ozieff, barrowmen,' were proceeded against by the Department of Agriculture on an information alleging that they arranged fruit on their barrows in such a manner that i the outer surface was not a true indication of the fair average quality of the fruit. Defendants were each fined £2, with 8/ costs. In imposing the fines, Mr. McMahon, S.M., said that no doubt I the public would be pleased to hear the Department was taking the matter up. There was no doubt that "topping" had ■been indulged in for years. The public had not been served with what had been represented by the barrowmen. "The method of many business concerns, such as insurance companies, land agents, fancy goods merchants, distributing companies, tea merchants, etc., which allow only commission and no wage at all to canvassers, is nothing but an exploitation of the working-class," says Sydney's "Labour Daily." "Most people who attempt to make a living at this canvassing fail, and only last a week or so. It matters little to the I firms, as one can see by 50 per cent of the advertisements they are for work on commission only. If a man has to give up because there is not a wage in the work, they advertise for another of' the unfortunate unemployed. And so it goes on, week in and week out. The methods of these gentry are astounding. The ads. read something like this: "Wanted men and women to sell pads, soaps, toilet requisitiee, etc." When you go along you have to buy 10/ or £1, worth of these lines, and you go out to' sell same. But you find you cannot make rent. Dozens of men and women do this every day, and the firms have a big turnover at the expense of the unemployed." "The separation in frequency between the four principal centres in New Zealand is very much wider than what exists between a large number of the American high-power broadcasting stations," said Mr. A. Gibbs, the Chief Telegraph Engineer, to a "Post" reporter at Wellington. "Those with selective receivers find no difficulty in choosing , between stations. Some people right alongside the Auckland and Ckristchnrch broadcasting stations can with suitable arrangements tune out the local station and receive other New Zealand or Australian stations. In some countries where a number of broadcasting stations are found in the same area, very large use is made of what are known as 'wave traps,' which are simply oscillating circuits connected between the antenna and the receiver, and which can readily be tuned so as to reject any signal not desired, leaving the listener free to tune the apparatus to the desired signal. These are largely used in American cities where more than one powerful broadcasting station exists. Almost all radio magazines describe wave traps suitable , for broadcasting work, and how to install them." A reporter's bad writing placed in the hands of a compositor whose knowledge of things Caledonian evidently does not extend beyond the national music and certain beverages, led to an amusing mistake in a paragraph which appeared in a recent ! issue of the Marlborough "Express." j His Excellency the Governor-General was made to say that in the late Lord Glasgow's experience, he was nearly killed by kindness in New Zealand, the kindness of people in the southern part of the Dominion manifesting itself in the shape of whisky and bagpipes, whereas his Excellency referred to whisky and haggis. Speaking at Havelock on Saturday, his Excellency, who had read the paragraph, said that as a Scotsman he was fond of the bagpipes and he certainly did not think they would ever make anyone ill.—(Laughter and applause). The town clerk of Te Aroha (Mr. F Wild) has been advised by the Hon. R F. Bollard that those who will attend the unveiling of the memorial of the late Sir Wiliam Herries are Sir Maui Pomare (a colleague of Sir William for many years). Sir James Allan (recently High Commissioner), the Hon. X S VVilliams and himself. It is quite probable that the Hon. G. J. Anderson, Minister of Labour, will also be present The unveiling ceremony takes place on Saturday afternoon next. The Northeotc Ambulance litter and shed, opposite the post office, are to be removed to a site adjoining the Borough Chambers. This course was decided upon by the Borough Council last evening. One key is to be kept in a glass ;case at the shed, and the other at the council office. , A return of the entries for the annual scholarship and frse place examinations was supplied to the Auckland Education Board to-day. The entries received rare: Junior scholarship 1064: junior free place, 89; senior scholarship, 333. An increase of 158 ie shown upon the number of entries for last year, which were: Junior scholarship, 9.i0; junior free place, 68; senior scholarship, 301. Friday, December 17, is the date upon which all primary schools in the Auckland educational district will close for the summer vacation. Tbe Education Board, in fixing the dates of the vacation, decided to-day that the pohools will re-open on Monday, January 31.