THE COST OF EXISTING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 15090, 12 December 1919, Page 8

THE COST OF EXISTING.

(Tn tne V.iiUnr nr thp Hpralrt.' Sir, — Mr. K. S. Williams has recently suggested that the dearness of life's necessaries may be due, m, some degree, .to the. habit some folk have of not paying. Tb -would not have been difficult for Mr. Williams to have secured figures to "show just what increase m j prices was dne to this. On the other hand it is cafe to say many people* do S not pay because their wages will not 1 cover the cost of living, when' that means the cost of keeping several persons besides the -wage-earner himself. Those who find the cost of living an -ever-present problem are those who have the most mouths to feed, and m this hurly-burly of rival political parties now on with their catch-cries, panaceas and nostrums, that, the part of the community that is doing the .all-important work of rearing our future citizens seem c to be almost overlooked. But m Auckland, Mr. Arthur Myers, our so suc-i cessful Minister of Munitions and clever! practical business ipan, says ,he is m! favor of the State doing something to j help parents to eive their children that; ffic'ency of care and attention which : from various reasons they are often vn T : .able to give themselves. Maternity may be its own reward and! it may seem so natural, so qu:te m the order of filings ( to see parents struggling to present th° Donrn'on -with three or four, thirdrate workers that one overlooks the indisputable duty of the community to ■ its ohildren. Equality of opportunity is a fine-sounding phrase. The State -an give the children this, m helping them to get that "equality of upbringing which every parent wishes his olvl- 1 dren to have. »We are told the State will perhaps spend money to bring emigrants from overseas. . Why not apply the money to encourage the people to have families? Let- those who have wealth be taxed for this. . Increase of population means unearned increment to . them. Mr. K. S. Williams wo'uM v-t. be out of pocket if there should not he a childless family m, the electorate he aspires to represent. Tlie "writer's vote will go to the candidate who intimates ' that it is time the 'State extended help to those who are rearing the future i nation.. — I am, etc., 1 SOCIAL INJUSTICE. |