DESTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 751, 17 December 1870, Page 2

DESTRUCTION OF CHILDREN.

[From the Australasian.']

Mankind is very unjust in the distribution of its censures. For centuries past it has held the memory of King Herod in execration, on account oi' his massacre of the innocents ; and yet the same sort of thing is going on, year after year, all round us, and the wholesale murder is tacitly acquiesced in, because the number of murderers happen to be Ignorance, Intemperance, and Neglect. In a letter to the " Telegraph on Saturday last, Dr Singleton made this appalling statement, which we fear cannot be challenged, that, " While the average mortality of children in England per 1000 deaths of all ages is the same mortality in Victoria is above 500, while in some of Melbourne suburban boroughs it reaches 700. The death-rate of all ages for Melbourne and suburbs is above 30 per cent, higher than that of the remainder of Victoria, being as follows: —1868, Melbourne and suburbs, 174,663 inhabitants, 3800 deaths; remainder of Victoria, 496,553 inhabitants, 6267 deaths." In fact, the mortality, among children is five times greater in Victoria than it is in England, notwithstanding- the superiority of our climate, the smaller density of our population, and the all-import-ant fact that the struggle for existence is infinitely less intense here than it is in the mother country. What are the causes of this premature destruction of human life? They are three-fold, and we have indicated them above. Numbers of children are poisoned by their parents ;' directly, by the administration of soothing syrups and other abominations •• -and" indirectly, by the addiction of their mothers to • intemperate habits. • In othercaseschildren are improperly fed, ' inadequately clothed, breathe- a contaminated" atmosphere both by day and night, are exposed to sun-stroke, and are permitted to grow up in dirt and squalor. Although, in law, the head of every household in Victoria is presumed to be—and, therefore, to avoid controversy, we will concede that he is—abundantly qualified to take part in the government of the country, and to assist in resolving some of the most intricate problems of statesmanship, yet, we fear, it must be acknowledged that only in a limited number of instances

is he qualified to rale his own house* hold. He may be able to serve the state, bub he has neglected to make himself acquainted with the element* ary laws of health, so as to enable him to save- his young children from the jaws of death. We have a Techno, logical Commission, which is going to make us all expert in the arts' and sciences. Will no one instruct our population in the simple principles of hygiene, and teach them how they may preserve the lives of their little ones ? : " Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers ;" and more especially that wisdom which is " wise in the salvation " of our bodies from avertible diseases and preventive death.