FALLING BIRTH-RATE

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1928, 30 October 1926, Page 8

FALLING BIRTH-RATE

A SERIOUS POSITION. Dr E. G. Gibbs-Smith, the medical officer of health -for Tct-ldington, London, records in a report that the birch rate l in the district shows a continued downward trend (states the Morning Post). •It was 17.7 per 1000 for 1925, the /highest for the past five years being 21.4, per 1000. “All over the country,'” he comments “the birth rate is declining steadily, arid there is no doubt that by far the greatest proportion of the decrease is amongst the middle Glasses, a grave Situation for a nation which has to find an ever larger number of men and women of good educational capacity and balance, knowledge, and foresight. It jstill remains true that Englanid must look to the middle classes In the. future as in the past to supply a large quota of the persons needed (and qualified to hold its responsible and skilled posts “Yet it is particularly in the' middle classes that the ldecreb.se in the birth rate is most noticeable. It would seem to be because these people are bearing the burden and heat of the day in the shape of expensive living and high taxation and have only small relief .from the State in respect of children. Moreover, school fees are high, and scholarships are relatively few and often slender financially. It is little wonder that pdo pie, often the most lu-seiful type of people for the purpose, are reluctant to saddle themselves with the financial load which attends the arrival of children.”