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Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 295, 10 November 1934, Page 11

Miss Vere Ball, of Christchurch, is spending a holiday in Palmerston North with her brother. Rev. F. 0. Ball, and is the guest of Mrs Brougham, South Street. Mrs Gordon Eliott, District Commissioner of the Palmerston North Girl Guides, will be attending a conference of officers of the Girl Guides which opens in Hawke’s Bay next week. Mrs lan Robinson, of Auckland, is visiting her parents, Mr and Mrs E. F. Pasley, Linton Street. Mrs S. Bolton and her daughter, Mrs W. Turner, of “Oete,” Pahiatua, have been spending a holiday in the Bay of Islands and Auckland. Mrs A. Birch, who has been staying with her parents, Dr. and Mrs W. R. Stowe, Palmerston North, has returned to Marton. Miss J. Kay and Mr Bryce, who are shortly to be married, were the guests of honour at an evening gathering at the residence of Mrs Edwards, Church Street, this week, Mrs Edwards and Miss Ivy Wallace being the hostesses. Miss Kay was the recipient of many useful gifts. A decline in the birth-rate, which is almost world-wide, is shown :n the Statistical Year Book of the, League of Nations. In a number of countries it has reached a new minimum. The general death-rate also shows a continuous, but much less rapid, decline. The natural surplus of the population of Europe, not including the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was nearly one million less in 1933 than ten years before,, when it amounted to about three and a half millions. Yet an interesting fact is that the marriage-rate shows an almost general increase. Moreover, there is a striking diminution m infant mortality. Fewer babies are being born, but the percentage of those surviving is considerably higher than hitherto. Thus, it would appear that, whilst the population of the world is decreasing in quantity, it is improving in quality.