The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7 1903. THE DIMINISHING RTRTH-RATE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 188, 7 October 1903, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7 1903. THE DIMINISHING RTRTH-RATE.

SOM SIGNIFICANT FIGURES BISHOP JULIUS, of Christchurch. recently spoke at a meeting of the Christian Social Union on the subject of the declining, or at least, stationary, birth-rate of Anglo-Saxon communities, especially instancing as an example near home the Australian states and; this colony. The ! advance sheets of the Official Year j Book for 1908 are now to "hand, and ! from these interesting, if not actually new, statistical information is to be gathered touching the. birth-rate per thousand of various years. The period quoted for comparison is that between 1882 and 1902. The table for New Zealand is as follows : —

I •#■»••■ ■ 1 It will be noted that that there was a rapid decline from 1888 to 1899, the total diminution being no less than 1|.16 |>er thousand of, , population. What this meant to the colony may be best explained by

tating that if the rate of 1883 bad been maintained through tha cue* ceeding years there would have been at least 80,000 more births during the period than were actually i*j"> corded. The numbeir lUc'orded in 1901 wouW bAVe Wi 28,2-24, instetitt xtf $0,491, and the number recorded in 1902 £9,554, instead of 20,655. It must be borne in mind, however, that the decline is not coA Ifined either to this colony <H* to tne English - speaking r&ces. Similar results at*G observable in other countries, the birth-rate in England having fallen from 31.4 per thousand in 1891 to 28.7 per thousand in 1900 ; in Germany from 37.0 per thousand to 35.6 per thousand ; and in Sweden from 28.3 per thousand to 26.9 per thousand, But it is to be observed that in no European country is the decline in the birth-rate so marked as in New Zealand. Bishop Julius suggested in his address that the falling-off here was due to the pro* gress of Democracy. But it may be pointed put that the Bishop is drawing a deduction !rom a mere coincidence. Switzerland, the most demo--1 cratic state of the Old World, is the only one in Europe showing an increased birth-rate, which rose steadily from 27.8 per thousand in 1891 to 28.6 in 1900. • • h To demonstrate further that the decline in the birth-rate is not confined in Australasia to New Zealand the appended table of the rate in Australia and Tasmania per thousand 'or 1901 is of interest: — Western Australia .. .. 30.49 Tasmania 28.39 Queensland . . . . . . 28.36 New South Wales .. .. 27.C9 New Zealand 26.30 Vicloiia.. 25 77 South Australia .. .. 2&.09 The birth-rate of France in recent years has averaged 22 per thousand, or only 3.09 below the lowest Australian rate. ••• • • Bishop Julius attributed the decline in the birth-rate to some extent to a decline in religious sentiment, Statistics to bear out this contention are not available in this colony, but Mr Coghlan, the Government .Statistician in Now South Walee> devotes considerable sp&efc to an analysis cf religious influence in regard the prevention of child-bearing or otherwise. He has arrived at the deduction that Irish women in the state, the majority devout Roman Catholics, are the most fecund, and that as a clas9 they may be entirely acquitted of ally resort to preventives* fiut Australian women born of Irish mothers did not carry on this maternal attribute, and they are the same as ether Australian women. In regard to religion, Mr Coghlan finds that, if the average birth-rate to a certain number of mothers within the childbearing age be taken as 100, the rates for women of the religious beliefs most numerously represented, and for which there is information, are as follow : — Roman Catholic „ ..113 Church of England .. ..107 Methodist .. >v .. 100 Presbyterian . . „ „ 95 Baptist „ .> >. .. 87 Congregational > 86 Jewish >4 .. .. ...71 Roman Catholic women show a much greater degree of fertility than women of any other religion, but Mr Coghlan says " It is evident that this " superiority is due mainly to the " number of women of Irish birth " represented in the Roman Catholic " population. 1 ' Mr Coghlan's general summing-up is that the fioman Catholic average is largely due to the fecundity of the Irish woman-, and that, taking all things into consideration, and speaking generally, the effect of religion as a deterrent to the practice of prevention is not particularly obvious. The inference is that teachers, deterred by a sense o£ false delicacy, have perhaps abstained to a greater or less extent from dwelling on some of the evils to which modern conditions expose ' married life. • • • • While the gravity of the position in relation to the declining or at least stationary birth-rate is beyond question, it must not be forgotten that, in this colony at least, many hundreds of women have chosen to earn, or help to earn, their own living. Excluding single women from consideration altogether, there are many married women who are as much breadwinners as their husbands, in some cases more so. How much this fact may bear upon the question involved it is difficult to say. But there is hardly justification for the assumption that because couples who dwell together are childless therefore they should come under suspicion of preventive practices. In short, the system of dual breadwinning apparently fosters platonic relationship to a greater degree than we can realise, and this cause, perhaps quite as much as any other, may contribute to a certain degree in keeping the birth-rate low.

Year Rate P er Vpfl r Rate per * ear 1000. Year * 1000 1883 - 36.28 1893 - 27.50 > 1884 - 3\91 H<<4 - 27.28 1885 - 34.35 1895 . 26.78 ■ 1886 - 33.15 1-96 - 26 33 1887 - 3^.09 1897 - 20.9(i 1888 - 3L.22 1898 - 25.74 1889 - 30.07 1599 - 25.12 1890 - 29.4-1 1900 - 25.60 1891 - 29.01 J 901 - 26.34 1892 - 27.83 1902 - 25.89