BIRTHS INCREASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 284, 29 November 1940, Page 4

BIRTHS INCREASE.

DOMINION POSITION. COMMENT BY MINISTER. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, thi.« day. This matter has been the suhjeet of inve-tipation by a e|>eeiiil committee and ha- al«o riveived the attention of wonien's oi-aui-at ion- throughout New /enla ml-aid tiie Mini-tcr of Health, Mr. .\rm-t roiiL'. in the Hou~e of l'epre -< • 111111 i v «•*- thi- morning when repK ini' to an urgent i|tie»tion asked by the lte.\. I• I• arr(( on t., l ima rti». Mr. I'arr asked whether the Mini-tci «• attention had Ih'cii drawn to the stateinent made by the Chief ■ liistice.. Sir Michael Myers, last Wednesday in respect to "the most serious problem" of abortion, and whether the Government proposed to take immediate action. "The. Government** policy of improving maternity service*, family allowances and the like, lias helped to remove the economic causes of abortion, and actually the present }>osition is much better than in the past," continued Mr. Armstrong. "This is evidenced- by the fact that la«t year the number of birtha icjjistered in New Zealand wag the highest since 1922, and th« birth rate ]>er 1000 of population wu the highest since 1030. The possibility of other improvements, which will further check this c.vil, i* continually kept in mind by the officers of the Health Department."