PREMIUMS ON LARGE FAMILIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12968, 7 May 1906, Page 7

PREMIUMS ON LARGE FAMILIES.

The whirligig ot lime brings _ about •tiauge revere*, i*rge lamilies and improvidence were "msucmed. Now national provicence na* set itself to encourage tirtg* tanuues. The American Review ot luviews describes now Paris provides for i.ae houaicg ui iMge families. France is said to be riooded witu literature just now on the vital, subject of the decreasing birthrate. It is pointed out that at present taxes fall upoa families according to their size—the larger the. tamily the larger .the house and the .targer Ue taxation. ; I'he writer says that: — " .vl. Bertiilon maintains that each family jihould have, no leas than three children — two to replace the lamer and mother, and a third to &'.i up any vacancy by death or emigration. He also advocates lightening the taxes, for •parent*' with large families; removing taxes altogether from those with more than three children, and putting a •pecial tax upon maidens, , bachelors, and families without any "children at aS." Already a pension of 46s is given by the State for each child over and above three children. Infant mortality has been reduced from 28.2 to 22.1 fop every thousand. Organised effort has now come to the help of the cradle:— **All these conditions have led forming of several philanthropic societies, made np of wealthy physicians, bankers, and patriots of rank and wealth of both. •exea, who have determined to,provide exceptional accommodation, for parents with, large families-. Foremost among these societies comes the Societe des Logements pour Families Nembreuses,. whose name admirably expresses its purpose. ciety was formed under the patronage of * 'a millionaire physician, Dr Broca, and M. Compel, president of another very weM association, known a* TAbtv* or *the • Shelter,* which provides a. temporary asylum for the city's outcasts.'* This society ha® built in the Men2montant Quarter many blocks of admirable flats for the reception only of large families. Each pile contains seventy -fitfeapartments,. with rentals ranging from £4 to £l6 a year, and all the fiats are perfect models of .what a healthy plaee of residence should\ be where there are many small children. The architect has arranged that every room, without exception, is thoroughly well lighted, with big cheerful windows _ admitting the sunlight; and broad balconies outside the windows on every floor are provided, where children can play in safety or bask in the sun. Before the houses of the children came into being parents with large families had the same fate in Paris as in London, walking the streets in vain <ruesfc for family accommodation. But now—"Branch societies are putting up apartment houses,.also for very large familSes up to ten and twelve children, with g*rd«» m playgrounds for the little ones- The aSes chosen, however, wBl naturally be a little out of Paris, in places where the price of land is not altogether prohibitive. But the fact remains that France is so alive to the 'depopulation peril' that some of lief citizens are building ' Eodpes- of' the .Children * and positively advertising for tenants with large families 6 Th« rent* r - cl 7 P a s" .?!.? of management- ■■ .',""' In *Ja«&a the same danger is being faced in the same way. Houses for the children are to ba erected in New York under the provisions of the million-dollar gift by Mr Henry Phipps. " The cost of the first blcck wSi be about 225,063 dollars. It will have a frontage of i&J feet, with two large archways I«ft& ing into courtyards ornamented with playing fountains. There will be a kindergarten in the cellar accommodating 200 children, under competent teachers; rooms for tjte,. nfcotage of perambulators; garbft?6 fodner&tiolt plants; foot-gardes* 5 hygienic laundries; heating apparatus: br the most modern land, and large, bright rooms, with a shower bafh far each &m2y.