MORE CHILDREN NEEDED

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29385, 12 December 1960, Page 18

MORE CHILDREN NEEDED

“Better Policy Than Immigration” (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, Dec. 11. Encouraging people in this country to have more children was a much better policy than relying on immigration to increase the population, said Dr. H. P. Dunn, senior obstetrician to the Mater Misertcordiae Hospital, on Saturday afternoon. Dr. Dunn spoke at a ceremony at which Archbishop J. M. Liston, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, blessed the foundation stone for the new £260,000 maternity extension block, now being built as an addition to the hospital. Dr. Dunn said there was concern in many parts of the world about over-population, but such fears had no relevance here. “What New Zealand desperately needs is more population, and the encouragement to have children of our own is a much better policy than relying on immigration,”' he said. The present annual birth rate for Europeans in New Zealand was about 25 babies a 1000 of population and for Maoris about 44 a 1000. “This latter figure partly derives from the younger age structure of the Maori people. It is worth noting that the pakeha almost equalled this figure in 1876, when the birth rate was 42 a 1000.” he said.