BIRTH STATISTICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3612, 5 June 1923, Page 7

BIRTH STATISTICS.

COMMUNITY’S HEALTH UNDERMINED. AN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC. WELLINGTON, May 28. The lion. W. H. i riggs, chairman of tho Venereal Diseases Committee, in a statement referring to the Bishop of Willochra’s charges- regarding ihe chastity of thev,omen of New Zealand, says it was not until the bishop, by a mistake very natural to one not accustomed to handling statistics, drew a too-sweeping inference from the figures that any public discussion ot this particular paragraph of the committee’s report took place. He suggests that it is unfortunate that correspondents in the public press on the subject seem far more anxious to comment on the arithmetical slio made by the bishop that) to help him to rouse the publia conscience in legard to an evil which is not only undermining the piiys ; c.d and moral health of the community, but u threatening the very foundations of society. “Let there be no mistake about the” matter,” says he. "It is almost impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the evil.” The committee, in compiling the statistics. did not pick out any particular year, but took a series of years, which is" generally recognised as the proper course. It so happened that the period they took J 913-21) covered the war period, and i; was possible that some of the sexual laxity shown 10 exist might be alti il.utaLle to" the excitement and uiisetticn e at associated with war, but making every allowance tho condition of affairs disclosed was s.'.ch as to give the gravest concern to every lover of this young country who had any regard lor its social and mcral welfare. Witness after witness, doctors and social workers and others, testified to the growing laxity of young people and the evi.s resulting merefrom. In order to eliminate the possibilities of exaggeration the committee asked for exact figures and found that in the period 1913-21 there were 10,841 illegitimate births registered, but that put of 33,735 legitimate birilis occurring within eric year after mariiage, there were no fewer than 12.236 which occurred within the first seven months after marriage; and which therefore might l:c safely considered' to Lave been conceived before marriage. “These figures,” he added, "are beyond dispute. It must be observed, moreover, that they comprise only instances in which extramarital intercourse was followed by a living issue. Surely, in the face of these facts, it is futile, if not absolutely criminal, to quibble about percentages or to charge anyone who refers to so grave a menace as making an attack on the chastity of the women of New Zealand.” THE AMENDE HONOURABLE. BISHOP’S RETRACTION. WELLINGTON, Slav 28. The Bishop ot Willoebra states: —With regard to the interpietation I put on a statement made in the report of the Committee of ihe Board of Health, I naturally regret that I made a seriously incorrect deduction as to what that statement really meant, but the pleasure that I feel that tilings are not so bod as they seemed far outweighs any personal mortification at being misled. At. the same time I feel that the original statement of the committee was very liable to misunderstanding, and has, as a matter of fact, been very widely misunderstood. After all corrections have been made the statement of the Board of Health—that 28 per cent, of all first births are extra-maritally conceived—is sufficiently alarming, and demands the attention of all Christian people. Tt must not le forgotten that- this 28 per cent, of all first births take* no account of the use of contraceptives by unmarried women—a point by no means to be ignored.