STABLE MARRIED LIFE.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLII, Issue 89, 16 May 1916, Page 8

STABLE MARRIED LIFE.

♦ »»■ In the opinion of Major Leonard Dar- , win, the birth-rate can be increased effectively only by the reduction of mortality among infants. It is not the gross number horn but the net survival of healthy children that matters to the State, fie writes : "Arguments in favor of an increase in mere numbers are, however, certain Id be heard, and there arc indications that changes in our marriage customs will be advocated with this object in view. In the hope of increasing the birth-rate, attempts seem likely to he made to justify or to exalt the 'unmarried wife'—a detestable term against which all true wives should protest—and if this propaganda is not a mere temporary aberration due to excitement, the immediate ami moral consequences are likely to be grave. "The whole basis of our ethical code concerning marriage seems to be founded on the fact that the most valuable part of a child's education, namely, its home education, must, in order to secure tins best results, he given tinder conditions of stable married life, a fact which justifies the sweeping aside of all minor issues."