"FILL-THE CRADLES."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14209, 4 November 1909, Page 6

"FILL-THE CRADLES."

ENCOURAGING BIG FAMILIES. WHAT" THE STATE -MIGHT DO. The plea of Mr. T. E. Taylor, M.P., for special consideration by. the country for parents of large families, has aroused considerable interest in Auckland. One well-known business man, the father of a large family, spoke in no uncertain strain on the matter to a Herald * representative yesterday. In a young country like ours, he said, the aim of the State should be to encourage by every reasonable means the rearing of large families. In Germany the Kaiser had notified that he would become the godfather of every eighth child born in a family. Now, Germany was recognised throughout the civilised world as being one of the most virile of nations. So, if it were necessary for a country like Germany, the population of which was increasing at the rate, he believed, of 1,000,000 souls a year, how much more necessary was it for a young country like ours to increase its population? America, too, was turning its attention to the preservation of infant life, and to the encouragement, and rearing, of large families. At present the tendency amongst civilised communities, with very few exceptions, was the rearing of small families, one of the chief causes of which, he was certain, was the domestic servant problem.

Our Government, continued this gentleman, should lose no time in trying to induce the immigration of domestic servants to these shores. If we wanted to increase our population, we should' also lose no time in opening up all our native and Crown lands, as the settler, as a rule, reared a large family. The burden of the song of the commercial delegates who had recently visited the Dominion was : "Increase your population," they recognising the fact that a country carrying only a small population was of little value, cither from a commercial or a. defensive standpoint. Her Excellency Lady Plunket, together with the St. Helens hospitals, had done a great deal towards the preservation of infant life, but something more should be- done- Personally, he .would not hesitate to advocate the granting ot a bonus, or certain other advantages, to parents of families consisting of over a given number. ■ Also, every effort should be made to secure suitable immigrants, and no opportunity should be lost to ameliorate the conditions of workers with large families.

Although there had been an increase of late years in the earning power of the ■worker, the domestic conditions of life were little better than they were when smaller wages were the rule; as ■ house rents, provisions, etc., had gone up in proportion to the earning power. The State should, in his opinion, devise something in the nature of a Fair Rent Bill, as the easier the conditions for the worker, the bigger the chance of increasing the population.