TOPICS OF THE DAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5229, 19 March 1904, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Following [upon the cabled references ttf, the report of the Now the South Wales Birth-Hate bieth-bate Commission, wo have now pboblem. received a very flail synopsis of that report, with a dumber of extracts from the evidence. There has also been sent to us a copy of a quarto, .pamphlet, entitled “ The declino in the Birth-rate in' New, South Wales,” writ ten by Air Ilichaifd Teeco, general manager of the Australian Mutun 1 ’ Provident Society. Mr Teeoa- . points out that the decrease - has amounted to about 30 per cent;, or nearly one-third, in twenty-one years, and he proceeds to inquire carefully and exhaustively, in the light of statistics and reason, into tho causes of this decline. As ■he published the pamphlet while tho Commission was still engaged, in its labours, his conclusions axe reached quite independently of anything done by the Commission. He finds that the official figures ■■ provo : that both as regards men and women there are now proportionately much larger npnnhers who marry at old agea and much smaller ones at young ages in New South Wales than was the case formerly, and that consequently a decreased birth-rato is a natural result. Unfortunately, the figures do not afford tho means of determining tho weight-of this influence, and consequently he is unable to determine the extent:to which the decrease is referable to this cause; hut apparently -he inclines to the view that late marriages, rather than preventive practices. is the chief contributing cause. In seeking to find the reasons for deferred. matrimony, ho ventures to state three, viz. (1) the increasing‘luxury of the age, with tho tendency to extravagance among wpincn, which makes young men chary df a-Aiming the responsibilities of married life; (2) the increasing employment of women in commercial avenues, tending to make them “impatient of the marriage yoke, , the inconvenience; of child-bearing—a tendency which, he considers, will probably he intensified by the granting m the political suffrage to them; and _ (of the practical cessation of immigration. These reasons appear inadequate; but after all there may bo a good deal m them. It has to bo borne m mind that, despite tho largo decline that has taken place in the birth-rate, the births among married women of ages Xo to 4e in New South Wales were 235 per thousand in 1901, just equal to the rate in England. An abnormally high.coloniaj birth-rate was to be expected in tbs earlier days, when tho conditions of life were easier anjd- when there ‘Vfa-s a largo influx of men. and, women, ptf mai nago able ages; but these countries are now settling down to normal conditions, and the birth-rate is approximating to tliat of older countries. Whatever may. pa thought of Mr Teece’s conclusions, it cannot he denied that he has reasoned out tho matter very carefully, and ha? stated hTs convictions with moderation and. clearness.

Taming to thie report of the Commission. we note that the rear findings sons assigned by Air Teeco of the do not hulk at all oonspicuCOMMISSION. ously. The Commissioners • state that the main factor in producing the decline of the birthrate in New South Wales is “a force over "which individuals themselves have control.” From the rise in the marriage ago, in their opinion, only “ a very slight fall in hirth-rato might ho expected to follow.” Artificial checks to fertility, deliberately employed by married people, are, in the opinion of the Commission, responsible for the decreasing birth-rater in all civilised countries. A number of plausible reason* wore assigned by witnesses for the use of these restrictive means; but the Oommissian practically classes all these reasons as one—selfislmess—the desire of the individual to avoid his obligations to the community, and notes that this condition -has been frequently repeated - in history, and is generally “ chaxao toristio, of a decadent race.” In the ancient States of: .Sparta, Athens and} Rome, the very samepratieos now deplored in British, communities were prej

if flux-jo nations. Tho Commission also iiml.-i that, in addition to preventive practices, “ the number of poisons — “idivivcs. nurses, lying-in homo keepers -nd others, including some few medical practitioners—plying the bu.sincss of abortionists, is not only large, but is increasing; and that they carry on this business with comparative impunity, owing to tilio inherent difficulty of obtaining Mulficont evidence for conviction of this form of crime.” These, aro practically the conclusions "Wo arrived fat some years ago, when discussing in thu “ Now Zealand Times'’ the declining hirtli-nato in this country; and the evil results to the community, as wo then stated them, aro repeated with emplioisis by the Now South Wales Commission. “The practices involved in tho limita.tion of families aro (says the report; ruipn-ni-jihlc for much physical suffering. for a deraclfuiiig of moral sensibility, and for a degradation of character among tho-:o who resort to them ; and these effects must have an unwholesome influence on tho genera] character of tho people who move in a social atmchpheiro so vitiated. Defective health, defective morals, am] defective character a,re already maul fasting themselves as a warning of more marked deterioration likely to ensue. Tire effects on trade and commerce must be equally marked. With the proportion of births decreasing, anil the ’natural increase of population diminishing, the demand for tho products of industry must flag, and tho capacity of the nation to utilise the natural resource,) of the Slate must tend to fail.”

■Ono of the most deplorable facts elicited before the Commission was woiial the deadening of the moral and sense In women—a deadonotheb ing which is the cause aspects, rather than the result of

tbo practices referred to. "Many women," says tiio report, “do not realise the wrong involved. They converse with one another upon these subjects apparently without shame, and freely approach doctors and chemist® in order to procure the moans to gratify their desires.” According to one medical witness, absolutely good women, in svory souse of the term, have a “twist” in thorn when it cornea to questions of prevention or abortion—they do' not recognise tho immorality of the one act, and they make light of the criminality of tho oilier. Quite n number of medical men gave similar evidence. Clergymen of all ranks and denominations condemned in unsparing terms bho firevcnlivo and destructive practices in vogue. Tho Anglican Archbishop of Sydney denounced prevention as “ a sin against Cod. a sin against Nature and a sin against Society.’' The Hev Mr Howell Price summed up Ins view of the question in tho one word “’Murder.” Tho Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney declared that “tho advocacy of artificial restriction of fertility in marriage is ‘quite repugnant to tho Christian idea or marriage’ ; contrary even to the fundamental principles of our Christian civilisation.” As these practices seem to constitute an index to public morality, it becomes of interest to note the extent to which they seem to bo growing in different countries. Ono of tho tables attached to the Commission’s report gives tho.percentage of reduction in the birth-rate in a number of countries during tho ten years from 1891 to 1900. This dhows that the Australasian colonic® have an undesirable pre-eminence. In three States— South Australia, Victoria and New South Walts—the birth-rate peir thousand of tho population shows a decline of over 20 per cent. In Queensland, tho decline was equal to 17 per cent.; in Western Australia to 14 per cent.; in New Zealand and Tasmania to about 12 per cent. Of old nobbled countries, Italy shows tho largest decline in the decade, the falling off being tho same as in New Zealand: while England, Hungary, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria and Ireland follow in tho order named. Tho decline in tho two last-named countries is only equal to about two per cent, on the rate prevailing ten years ago- Considering tiio constant depiction of Ireland’s vigorous population, tho steady Condition of tho birth-rato there must be viewed as a high tribute to tho morality of bho people. Tho birth-rate ■ varies considerably in the countries named. It is lowest in Franco, 21.9 pep thousand of tho population; Ireland comes next, it 22.7; then follow Now Zealand and South Australia, which are practically equal at _ 25.6 and 25.8 respectively. ' The highest birth-rate in .1900 was found in Hungary, with 39.6; Austria stood at 37.4; Germany, 35.6; and Italy, 33.0. England’s birfch-rato was 28.7, which is about tiio average of Australasia—the lower rates in the leading colonies of the group being compensated for by rates cf 30.7 and 30.2 in Western Australia and Queensland respectively. Thee© figures da much to remove any impression that may Have been created to the effect that colonial morality is low<?r than that of older countries, and rather support the theory of Mr Teeoe that the rapid decline in the birth-rate througiiout Australasia is duo to tho cessation of immigration and to later marriage. A consideration of tho remedies proposed by tho Now South Wales Commission must be left for a future occasion.