EUGENICS OR EXTINCTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1034, 25 January 1911, Page 10

EUGENICS OR EXTINCTION.

DR. FINDLAY ON "NATIONAL DECAY." ißy Telenioph-rress Association.! .. . Dunedin, Jamiarv 24. . JJr. i'liidiay, m a lecture on "Urban- , isatioii and National- Decay," beforo tho Eugenics Society to-night, 'said, in connection with fertility of tho unfit, that tne modern tendency to drift into tow ns was 'largely accountable. Nearly ''.per cent, of the population of Britain lived in cities •pd towns: In New Zealand a few years ago tho''rural'population exceeded the borough population, nut to-day tho position was reversed. In' ail. largo cities tho birthrate was maintained mainly 1,.v tho least fit, In the poorer part of Berlin there wero 214 children to every 1000 ■ married women : in the richest parts 121. In London the difference was about-the same. He desired to mark three things: (1) That the birthrate was dwindling fastest in tho cities. (2) 'lhat the reduced rate is chiefly maintained by the fertility of tlio least fit-. (3)_That the population of New Zealand is steadily drifting to the towns and cities. The prospect justinod the bold statement that for them tho. future--meant either- eugenics ' or extinction- One family of defectives in all its; branches prolific would'in a fev.Jjoars cost- us in asvlums, gaols," ■ and homes' some -£20,000,' Two ' imbecile girls hatl-produced-15 illegitimates, and Overy ono of . these would be'-dependent during their ;wliole.' 'lives on-; the, State for * _everythihg, including ' 'liltimate' burial. , Among .' the : suggested o.ugOnic, remedies was the new marriage law, which' would, prevent juvenile marriages. Specificallv the State should cardinally'aim',(l) to keep the. people on the land. (2) To, enforce and assist, the most approved-method of ■ t'owii planning. Land for settlement must be found and country life' must Ije made more attractive. If "this country was to rise to greatness it must check agents of degeneration, and promote those, that would improve the phvsical and mental- qualities of tho people.