THAT FALLING BIRTH RATE.

Evening Star, Issue 22573, 15 February 1937, Page 8

THAT FALLING BIRTH RATE.

Among the many fears besetting Europe at the present time is that which centres on the declining birth rate. Following quickly on a period during which complaints were rife concerning overcrowding, this new wave of apprehension may at first sight be deemed strange and not altogether reasonable. Yet the call, which, in the case of the British Empire, is sent forth for economic and to a lesser extent for defensive reasons, cannot be ignored. The fact is that the annual increase in our population is becoming less, and if the decline continues trade must eventually be adversely affected. Overcrowding in certain cities there undoubtedly is. The steady drift to the cities is creating a badly-balanced distribution, which is probably one of the factors that stimulated a discussion on the subject in the British House of Commons. In urging that a Government inquiry into the position be made, a Conservative member expressed the opinion that the decline in population would possibly en- ' danger the maintenance of the Empire, his remarks being given further point by a party colleague, who averred that the decline was most marked in the sparsely-populated dominions. The extracts from the speeches which have been cabled give the impression that defence of the Empire was the first consideration entertained by the members, but ‘ The Times,’ in a, recent leading article, devotes much space to the economic problems that will inevitably arise if the present rate of decline continues. “ What is alarming,” it says, “ is the effect of depopulation on the proportions of old and young within the population. In a period when social expenditure is bound to increase the number of those who will bear the burden will decrease. Industries organised for mass production and increasing demand will find markets shrinking. Food-pro-ducing customers of this country will call in vain for more orders and more emigrants.”This reference to Britain’s customers at once brings the future of New Zealand into tjie picture The Dominion is a food producer for the Home Country, and if the demand there for her goods decreases steadily in ratio to the decline in population the prospects of longcontinued prosperity here are by no means bright. Moreover, both the United Kingdom and the dominions will be faced with problems of defence, of transport and building adjustment, of Imperial policy, and with the menace of the growing populations of Asia. The reasons for the decline in the birth rate cannot in any great measure be attributed to an occasionally avowed reluctance on the part of parents to produce “ cannon-fodder.” At heart most people will feel that by the time their offspring have reached the age of military service the world will have progressed into a saner frame of mind that should effectively preclude war and its terrible effects. The main barriers to fruitful marriages are unquestionably economic. It appears that modern features of our social life are gradually materialising into familiar habits and institutions. In many cases the lack of enthusiasm for reasonably large families is based on comprehensible grounds; the family purse is not alwaj’s able to keep pace with the monetary demands made upon it. In other cases, however, the disinclination to face marital responsibility is purely selfish. The craze for flats, the desire to run a motor car in preference to rearing an addition to the family, and the increasing pursuit of enjoyment and leisure activities outside the home are among the factors which are proving disturbing to those who are able to foresee the economic future. Sir William Beveridge (Director of the London School of Economics) has prophesied that the granting of family allowances will play a big part in the remedial measures which the British Government intends to bring into force. Suck a policy would be in line with some of the steps taken m other European countries, and at the moment seems to be the only logical solution of the problem.

'Apropos the discussion on the Caversham children’s playground, the following is an extract from the City Council’s Year Book, 1918-19: —“A very valuable addition to the facilities for open-air recreation for children was made to the city during the year through the efforts of Mr Mark Cohen, editor of the ‘ Evening Star,’ who has always taken a very active interest in any matter pertaining to the city’s reserves and open spaces. Mr Cohen wrote under date October 25, 1918, offering to secure for the city an area of three to three and a-half acres of the land at Forbury Corner known as Barron’s Estate for the purpose of a children’s playground for the Caversham district for the sum of £750. The offer was submitted to and accepted by the council on December 11, 1918. It may also be mentioned that Mr Cohen secured the remaining portion of the same estate, together with the building thereon, for the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for the purposes of a children’s hospital. Funds for laying out the children’s playground and for other public purposes were subsequently raised by Mr Cohen and an associated committee, and the sum of £250 was in due course forwarded to the council for expenditure on the playground under the direction of the superintendent of reserves. Later on Mr Cohen intimated that a further sura of £SO would be provided for the purchase of an additional area, which would give a second access to the playground from Hazelhurst Avenue, provided the council provided the balance of the purchase money, £I.OO. This further offer was accepted by the council on March 19, 1919, and the whole transaction is now being completed by the city solicitors.”

No,w that normal shipping services between the United States and New Zealand have been resumed, three sea lions which have been on order for the Auckland Zoological Gardens for a cUnsiderable time are expected to arrive from San Diego Zoo soon. Only one of this species is possessed by the Auckland Zoo at present. Other early arrivals will include a small consignment of mixed finches from Western Australia.

A series of mishaps attended the overseas vessel Zealandic’s stay in port at Oamaru, culminating in the ship becoming adrift in the harbour. Circumstances unavoidable were responsible for the first mishap, when a sudden squall struck the vessel on Friday afternoon, causing it to bump against the wharf, thereby damaging the principal gangway. Later in the day another squall of slightly less intensity upset one of the slings, which scattered its contents in the vicinity of several workmen. But the Zealandio had to experience worse trouble before she finally cleared for Timaru, for just as she left the wharf the engines brokedown, and the vessel suffered the ignominy of becoming adrift in the harbour. Leaving the wharf shortly after 4 p.m. on Saturday, the steamer was manoeuvring towards the channel when the trouble started which subsequently caused the pilot (Captain H. S. Cox) many anvious moments. Drifting helplessly, the vessel made towards the end of the wharf, and at one stage it was _ feared that she must strike; but by dint of clever manipulation with mooring lines the big ship was eventually brought back and reherthed. Shortly after the engines again functioned, and the vessel left for Timaru without further mishap.

At 11 o’clock on Friday morning the mayor (Rev. E. T. Cox) will accord a civio reception in the council chamber of the Town Hall to Mrs Catherine Booth-Clibborn, the eldest daughter of the late General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, and sister of General Eva Booth, the present general. Known as “ The Marechale,” Mrs Booth-Clibborn is a noted evangelist, and is regarded as the greatest woman preacher in the world. Under unemployment scheme No. 5, group No. 252,; working with the works department of the City Corporation, will commence work on Pine Hill road at Gladstone road at 12.15 to-morrow. The Arbitration Court will commence a sitting in Dunedin at 10 a.m. on Friday. The date of the Invercargill sitting will be fixed at the opening day of the local sitting. An unusual manifestation of thermal activity is reported from Waiotapu, near Rotorua, where, after recent slight earthquake tremors, a kind of minor eruption apparently took place in the bed of the Echo Lake. Although the water of this lake was previously notable for its vivid blue colour, it is now a slate grey, with one darker patch near the centre. It is assumed that a mud spring has broken out in the floor of the lake andi that the dark patch indicates the location of the spring.

Owing to the south-west gale and heavy rain squalls _on Saturday the South Island championship regatta at Port Chalmers had to be put off. At the week-end the interprovincial eightoar race was rowed under .very adverse conditions. The Otago crew was leading until the boat swamped, and had to be taken to the adjacent sand bank and emptied. The Southland crew, which was able to keep on, won the race. The speed boat race between Pelorous Jack, from Pictou, and the local boat, Miss Victory, resulted in a win for the latter on a long handicap start. The Beagrove Cup went to Pelorus Jack for the fastest time, and the Sell Memorial Cup _to Miss Victory. The Regatta Committee will meet to decide whether the regatta shall be cancelled for this year. The Dominion Pipe Band Association has granted permission for an A and B contest to bo held at Tiraaru on Easter Saturday.—Press Association.

Probate lias been granted by His Honour, Mr Justice Kennedy, in the estates of Catherine Whelan, widow, Roxburgh; Jessie Annie Black, widow, Roxburgh; Harry Winsley, retired builder, Oamaru;. William Henry Smith, retired, Dunedin; and Alexander Thomson, _ farmer, Kelso. Letters of administration have been granted in the estate of Alice Maud Harriet Hall, 'spinster, Dunedin. Otago has experienced a light honey season so far this year, according to an officer of the Department of Agriculture. It is stated that up to the present the crop is only about quarter the size of the normal yield, and there is little prospect of improvement in the position. The fruit-growing season experienced in Central Otago this year has been cooler than usual, and there have been ample supplies of rain, with the result that stone fruit crops nave been rather slower in maturing. The absence of periods of intense heat has prevented the glut of ripe fruits that usually follows dry weather, with a consequent advantage to growers in that, they have been able to handle their crops without undue rush. The quality of the fruit is also improved. Extra rain has been advantageous to pip fruit, apples and pears especially coming on well. Particularly in shingley country, rain will improve the size of fruit. So far the fruit has been clean, but there is now a suspicion of black spot as a result of the last rains. Packing for export should commence about the end of this month, but the possibility of the loading of the first ship might delay this work until the middle of March;

- Some queen bees were recently despatched from the Geraldine Post Office to a destination in the North l Island. Although this was the first time that the air mail has been used for this purpose from Geraldine, a reporter learned that it was the practice of beekeepers in different parts of New Zealand to exchange queen bees in an effort to maintain a high quality in the strain. One beekeeper said that in the past he had imported queen bees from America. If a transpacific air service were established beekeepers would undoubtedly use it to obtain queen bees from the United States and Canada at the end of the season there.

Yesterday, February 14, was St. Valentine’s Day, but the long-lived custom of sending “ valentines ” is moribund. The original valentine was a kind of greeting card sent by lads and lasses (and by older people, too) to each other, cupids, pierced hearts, and like designs being the predominant feature on them. Valentines later degenerated into ludicrous and sometimes vulgar caricatures. They indicated a kind of mock betrothal, and we have it on the authority of Samuel Pepys that married folk were not exempt from the attentions of valentine senders.

At a recent meeting of the Council of the United Kingdom Manufacturers’ and New Zealand Representatives’ Association (Inc.) the secretary reported that he had received replies from various influential Home organisations in response to letters from the association, stating that they were taking the opportunity of interviewing the Hon. W. Nash, Minister of Customs, during his visit to the United Kingdom and placing before him various matters affecting British trade with New Zealand.

A new method of branding and marking queen bees in a hive in such a manner as to avoid all possibility of confusion has been adopted by Mr D. S. Robinson, apiary instructor _ for Otago and Southland. He explained to a ‘ Star * reporter this morning that in some cases the queen bee might be killed by the others in the hive, and this, of course, would not be noticed by the keeper unless he had some means of distinguishing the particular bee. The latest process as to brand the queen with a special numbered and coloured sticker. If the bee is still in the hive in a year’s time, she may be instantly recognised ■ and her age determined by the colour of the sticker. The method has been demonstrated to Southland keepers, who have found that it gives every satisfaction. When the Awatea berthed at Auckland this afternoon there stepped ashore seven Sisters of the Carmelite Order, who will establish in Auckland for the first time a Carmel of Prayer Contemplation and Good Works. The only other Carmel in New Zealand! was established in Christchurch three years ago. The sisters were met byt Bishop Liston.—Press Association, The opinion that Mr Roosevelt would not proceed with his proposals to reorganise the American Federal Supreme Court judiciary if he found that public opinion were strongly against it, was expressed by Air W. T. Barnard, a member of the American Bar who has retired from practice and who arrived in Auckland last week by the Rangitiki. “We have a very bad practice in the United States of Presidents giving out proposals which they do not intend to pursue if there is a public outcry,” said Mr Barnard. “ There Is nobody so, astute in the States in getting on the popular side as Roosevelt, and _he is_ evidently merely testing public opinion.” Mr Barnard said a reorganisation of the Supreme Court was not made an issue at the Presidential election because when there was a suggestion of it being made one there was a violent public reaction. Notwithstanding the incorpoi;ation of four pieces new to patrons, the real tour de force of Dr Galway’s oi-gan recital at the Town Hall last evening was Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 1, whose grandeur has been exploited by the city organist on other occasions. The lovely second movement, and the dynamic theme summmary and finale found the organist at the top of form, and he was rewarded by the audience with a salvo of appaulse. Included among the other numbers played by Dr Galway were;— ‘ Festal Prelude ’ (Thomas Dunhill), ‘ Canzona ’ (Wolstenholme), ‘Concerto in G’ (Bach), Choral Preludes ‘ A Rose Breaks into Bloom,’ and ‘ Adorn Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness’ (Brahms), which have not previously been heard at these_ recitals, other interesting pieces being: Romanza (Beethoven), Berceuse (Jarnefelt), and ‘ Coronation March ’ (Meyerbeer). The assisting artists were Miss Ruth Miller, who gave sympathetic renderings of Pergolesi’s ‘ Gentle Shepherd,’ and ‘ The Blacksmith ’ (Brahms), and Mr William Clarke, who played Schumann’s ‘ Novelette in F’ with fine sense of rhythm and accent values.

• “If you come before the court again something different will be done to vou,” said Sir J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., in the Police Court this morning when Donald Matheson made his third appearance in four days on a charge of drunkenness. Matheson was fined £2, in default three days’ imprisonment. William George Riddle, similarly charged, was fined 12s 6d, in default 24 hours’ imprisonment. The Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) announces that ■ the programme for the return of H.M.S. Dunedin to the United Kingdom has been modified in order to permit of_ her arrival at Sheerness a week earlier. This arrangement will admit of the Leander being commissioned for service in the New Zealand Division on April 30 in time for her to take part in the Coronation naval review. The week-end proved the_ coldest ever experienced in February in Auckland for many years, and in many homes, hoarding houses and hotels, the squally wintry conditions forced the return to fires. The unseasonable conditions were general over the province.—Press Association.