Limit On Family Benefit Urged

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31830, 7 November 1968, Page 8

Limit On Family Benefit Urged

The Government should limit the family benefit to the first four children of a marriage, said the Rev. W. R. Francis, of Whangarei, in his presidential address to the New Zealand Methodist Conference at New Plymouth last evening.

“As Christians wC seek not small families but ones in which there shall be responsible care for those born into their shelter, and reasonable educational, vocational and cultural outlets for each child,” said Mr Francis. He said that the large number of children bom out of wedlock in New Zealand and thrust into various child care agencies threatened the stability of the country. Mr Francis said the Pope had thrown the Roman Catholic Church into some confusion by his encyclical letter about birth control. The most militant opposition seemed to have come from within the Catholic Church. “Our own reaction is one of deep regret because of the frustrations this will bring to many serious - minded Christian parents,” Mr Francis said. Explosive population trends

not only threatened world food supplies, but stretched the human ties of care, affection, and loyalty to the breaking point. “It is not our church’s policy to legislate for: what we consider to be matters of private responsibility and conscience,” said Mr Francis. “But we affirm our deep convictions that the planning of families and the unselfish use of contraceptive devices are not contrary to the divine will.

“Equally strongly we uphold the sanctity of marriage, the stability of the family as a pillar of social structure, and the right of all children to grow up in the security of family ties.”