SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12523, 16 March 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE.

'.. SOME CLERICAL OPINIONS. "The time has gone by when we could afford to point out with scorn the mote in the i eye of la belle France," said an Auckland j minister to a Herald reporter yesterday in .'! tho course of a chat regarding, the causes of ; the decline in the birth-rate ot the Australa- ''■ sian States during recent years. ''To-day," I ho went on, '-light-hearted, wanton France I may very well retort when twitted with her I -,'■ decadence,' ' First pluck out the beam that j is in thine own eye.' It is a bad look-out j for the Anglo-Saxon race that there should I bo so many evidences among us of a weaken- ! ing in our ideas of morality, of the Ninotity j of tho marriage tie, and of the privilege and | duty of parentage. v No minister of religion | —no citizen concerned for the moral wellI being of the Stated-can read without a feeling of shame the report of the Birth-rate j Commission which sat recently in Sydney, 1 That the population of Australasia should be less by 940,000 than would have been the case had there been a normal increase during the past 40. years is an alarming fact, and one that may well give us pause in our experimental legislative schemes, while ; we search out the root of tho evil and find a remedy." During the day our interviewer waited upon a number of ministers of various denominations, and invited an expression of opinion from them upon tho same important topic. TWO ANGLICAN VIEWS. ■The Rev. W, E. Gillam, vicar of St. Matthew's, who was interviewed by a Hekai,d reporter, pointed out that the causes of the decline in the birth-rate presented a big question to tackle at short notice. He quite j concurred, however, in what had been said and written * in '; condemnation of the arti- j ficial methods commonly adopted for the restriction of families. ; .■'!■:■."••.■■' Archdeacon Calder said: "I am in full I sympathy with>• the views expressed on the question by my curate, the Rev. H. L. Snow, on Sunday last, and reported in your iss\ie of Monday. % We are unquestionably face to face with a great evil. That New Zealand should have such a low birth-rate is disgraceful, inasmuch -as wo have no grinding poverty here.: The present system of education has a good deal to do with the unsatisfactory state (of; affairs. There is. too great anxiety to score at:examinations; too little concern about "character building. Tho Church ought to do a great deal more in the way of educating the people than it does." Asked whether: he could suggest a remedy for the state of things disclosed by the Commission, Archdeacon Calder pointed out that the evils complained of are so interwoven in all our social relations that one could not possibly indicate the seat of the trouble. The only effectual remedy would be the creation of .a, public opinion which should set itself sternly against any wanton interference with the laws of nature. He was inclined to think people were becoming more selfish and' more pleasure-loving; they seemed to be unable to take a really serious view of life. The question was one which it would do good to .ventilate. Archdeacon Calder also intimated that the Bishop of Auckland would shortly be preaching a series of. special sermons, and might be expected to speak in regard to this matter. A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION. The Rev. J. Clarke, of the Baptist Tabernacle, was seen relative to the subject under review, and incidentally expressed pleasure at the action of the' New Zealand Herald in taking.up the question. He has just returned from a holiday . visit . through New South Wales,' and there.he found that the report published' by J the commissioners was exciting considerable public interest.. "What is yonp;opinion as to the cause of the increasing inclination to limit families I" waa the filsi|Sme^fi^'' asked. . "/;";';* i;^''.' ■ ■ ;,•;" :' "Probablythe first causer's ignorance of I physiological laws, which no doubt leads to practices which* have proved effective in the limitation i, of \; families," was the "■' answer. "There is also current literature in which the people..* may find instruction. "'■ Circulation of this class of literature should be suppressed. , am told that certain, booksellers' agents, women .'generally,- who visit • the homes of our .people ostensibly,, selling cookery books, ;etc.'i-' manage to turn the conversation into -the '.channel of child-birth, and leave behind seedlings of thought, the while making their ..occupation a lucrative one. There were: also lectures advertised for 'women only,' at which, I fear, utterances of an undesirable character are made." "How would youspropose to remedy the existing state of things ?"' '■■■■ "In regard t'J the lectures, if the information that I have obtained is correct, it seems to me that the time : has _ arrived when there should be | competent persons appointed to attend the lectures to ascertain the nature of the utterances and report to authorities, who should be .vested with the necessary power to put i a stop to the mischief-mak-ing." In; addition to this the Rev. Mr. Clarke advocated the employment, by the Government, of- qualified doctors, both I ladies and gentlemen, to lecture on this special branch of physiology in order to demonstrate the dangers attending the violations of : God's laws, which-are now bein'» so com- ! monly practised, arid also to point out the degradation, diseases and deterioration as consequences following on the disregard of these laws. It should be the duty of these doctors to visit all centres of population with a view to imparting healthful and helpful information, and they could also, with undoubted advantage, address schools throughout the colony. He viewed the growing tendency of disregard of natural laws to be of great seriousness for these colonies,, and believed that if people had shown to them the disastrous effects as experienced in France! * healthier tone and thought would be produced. The position in France should act as a danger signal, because in that country . the legislators have for generations past been trying to meet the difficulty, and within recent years "premiums have been offered to parents having a certain number of children. He was strongly convinced that the time has arrived when -a vigorous crusade should be instituted against the practice of limiting families, and the co-operation of chemists, all public teachers, and ministers should be secured, so that there would be united. and systematic -action throughout the colony. The Rev.' Mr. Clarke added that the Jewish people, guided by their leader, Moses, have been lea to live a life in strict harmony . with the laws of -their being, with the result that they have proved to be the most tenacious of life, and have the highest birth-rate and the lowest death-rate. No people, he concluded, can* continue to violate the sacred laws of their being without themselves suffering and without bringing on the generations to come limitations of physical, mental and moral strength. >~. ••• -~'.--' "IMMORAL AND ATHEISTICAL." "I regard this< thing as short-sighted, immoral, murderous, and atheistical," remarked the Rev. W. Gray Dixon, M.A., of St. David's Church, to'our representative, who called upon .him to ascertain his views on this question. He. said he was quite satisfied as to the essential point, that of holding to the Scriptural principle, that a large family is a blessing. It is only nations with large families that are likely to be influential nations in this World. The law of propagation is a divine law, and unless we believe that God, who ordained tin's law, is unable to control the effects of it, and to sustain the population produced, we must feel that we are right .in, adhering to it. All interference with God's laws is unnatural and sinful, and it indicated a lack of fait)- in God to believe that He would allow the race to be increased without providing the means for its subsistence. The only sound principle is to do right .and leave the consequences to God." ~ , « , Asked as to what he ascribed the cause or the evil, the Rev. Mr. Dixon said it was due to lack of family discipline, as well as tc a son-it of self-indulgence", love of ease, and comfort, and a' shrinking" frorr responsibility on the part of parents. The children are not imbued with the right spirit. . Their intellectual and spiritual welfare is neglected, and if parents would only.be faithM in the maintenance of a pure, sweet, Hid wholesome family life- i trouble would disappear. The populatioF would increase; it would be a population worthy to incr*«v«>; 5* would settle on the land,? and U*r. P--'u*h prestige would be maintained. Aw a*. insiwace of .the lack of discipline the Rev. Mr. i.«x<-.a mentioned that in some famiher the parent* were positively : the. slaves of tl and it was no wonder in aonx c**«w that the heads of the: families were iv-Tnumc to multiply the number of tyrant*. He saio he could quite .understand a man sometimes being , overtaken with ; a:, gloomy v v* of things becoming a perw.^f, ant? think why should children be brougfe :aio a world with so unsatisfactory condition* of e.astenoe. And he could' ouite understand a -nan bay-

ing his mind overshadowed with a gloomy view of the future, when he sees family, life so neglected •; that swarms of young people are growing up unintellectual and unspiritual, and considering it a miserable thing to propagate the race. If he feels like that he should not marry. However, the Rev. Mr. Dixon said he was not anxious to run down the colony : wholesale, , because there were many splendid exceptions ,to the families where lack of discipline .prevailed. But there were many families where sport and pastime predominated to the exclusion of intellectual and spiritual affairs. Unless the mind and spirit are cultivated a nation never can be great. The evil arises through the neglect of parents to _ train :up the oliildren properly, and discipline them in a wholesome way on spiritual and intellectual lines. "The legitimate care," replied the rev. gentleman to a question put by the interviewer, "is to instil into the people the right principles as to the sacredness of the family and as to God's ability to provide for the family." ,"- •"' : The checking of the population in New Zealand was, in his opinion, detrimental to the nation's morals and ruinous in every Other respect. So long as it is continued we shall never exercise our due influence in the world. The successful nations were those of large families, notably the Jews, the British (especially the Scotch), the Chinese, and. the Japanese. The longevity of the Far Eastern nations is undoubtedly due in a large measure to the earnestness with which they have cherished the family as the foundation of all national prosperity. ■ Dr. Lggge, professor of Chinese at the Oxford University, attributes the unprecedented longevity of the Chinese to their adherence to the principle of our fifth Commandment. The beautiful and effective discipline of the whole Japanese nation at this crisis of their history is essentially due to the unviolableness of family discipline in the minds of that race. Everybody admits that we want population in this colony, but in the face of this want i the people introduce artificial means to check the population. It is a deadly blow at the true well-being of the State. Ho was not acquainted in detail with the modus operandi of people pursuing this reprehensible and immoral practice, but he considered the State ■ should make it a criminal offence. ~;.. |