DECLINING BIRTH RATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23191, 10 November 1938, Page 15

DECLINING BIRTH RATE

Sir, —From time to time articles appear in your paper dealing with the above subject. One minister recently accused childless couples of selfishness. I agree with him that the problem is serious and I want to present a different side of the story. I am a married man with three children and earning less than £5 per week, and I am telling whoever wants to know that it is the certainty of poverty and drudgery that keeps the cradles empty. People do not want to tie themselves down to that if they can avoid it and I do not blame them. The root cause is this: Children bring poverty and loss of freedom. When the problem gets serious enough the Government will wake up to the fact that if they want cannon fodder they will have to pay for it just the same as thev do for other war material.

From April next we will be gettiug 4s per week assistance from the Government, just enough not to be an insult to the mothers and fathers of the nation of to-morrow. I say when the family allowance goes up to 10s per week per child, starting from the first, the birth-rate problem will be solved. Surely no one could accuse us of selfishness in asking to be put on something near the same level financially as the childless couple. Mamaku. H.C.S.