LOWER BIRTH RATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23320, 13 April 1939, Page 13

LOWER BIRTH RATE

EFFECTS OF HOUSING SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Wednesday Replying to a deputation which expressed concern at the declining birthrate in the Dominion, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. W. E. Parry, stated that the Government at the outset of its administration, and since, had given more than a glance at the vital statistics of the Dominion. > "We in New Zealand have a low death rate, and it is true, as lias been stated, that the birthrate figures, for several years have dropped behind," lie said. Which ever way one looked at the' question, said Mr. Parry, the position was not as it should be, although the latest figures showed some improvement. It was vital to the progress of the nation that the figures of births and marriages be kept up to the highest standard. "From my correspondence," he added, "I am able to say that a serious drawback to marriages in New Zealand has been a lack of houses. That is a serious state of affairs and was viewed as such by the Government when it set out on its State house building programme with the idea of a solution of the problem."