NOT A CALAMITY.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19364, 18 September 1934, Page 8

NOT A CALAMITY.

FALL IN ENGLISHMEN. tiieir smaller trade. “Whai is the advantage of having more people than can he kept on a reasonably good living?” asked Sir Charles Close, addressing Census experts at the International Congress on Anthropology and Ethnology in London, reports the Manchester Guardian. Sir '.Charles was presenting in the section dealing with demography and populalion problems, a comparison of the census of'England and Wales in 1931 with that of 1921. •lie pointed out that the war upset the trend of population very materially, first by the number of young men killed, next by the loss of their probable children, next by the economic difficulties, which had a direct effect upon the birth-rate, and finally by the ultimate and serious reduction In the rate of emigration. One of the most interesting statistical results was that the proportion of women to men was slightly reduced. The average age of the population of England and Wales, which in 1921 was 30.6, became in 1931 32.7. “This represents a very considerable ageing,” said Sir Charles. “Between the ages of 0 and 20 there were actually fewer people in 1931 than there were in 1921. This state of affairs, ‘which is naturally due to the fall in the birth-rate in recent years, will no doubt in a few years result in a stationary population and therefore in a declining one. “There arc those who are inclined to make a great fuss about this probability of a decline in our numbers. I am not one of them. Our previous large increases were due to our nourishing overseas trade; this will probably never reach its former magnitude, and if that is the case this country certainly cannot support the huge population that was being built up in pre-war days. Compared With France. “It is sometimes forgotten that England is at present the most densely populated large country in the entire world, having something like 740 persons to the square mile. What is the advantage of having more people than can be kept on a reasonably good standard of life? Ultimately we cannot escape from arithmetic. There is a number which can be supported unaided by our internal resources; wc can add to this the number which can be supported by our exports of coal, iron, cotton, and manufactured goods, and that number will be less than in the past. Wo need not weep over a probable decline in our numbers." Observing that in 1931 the island supported three million more people than France, he said: “Look al the difference —‘Great Britain SS.OOO square miles, France 212,000 square miles. In this respect France is in a happier and more stable condition than we arc.” Sir Charles mentioned that the admixture of persons of Irish birth from Southern Ireland had been steadily diminishing—from 29 per thousand in I IS3I to 7.3 in 1921 —while the poi-

sons of Irish descent, pure or nearly pure, has, of course, been steadily increasing. “There is some guide to be found in the proportion of Roman Catholic marriages. The figure for 1929 was, for instance, 3.73 per cent. “Perhaps we may assume that tiro greater number of these marriages were between persons of nearly pure Southern Irish descent, and perhaps we might say that persons of this descent might approach 5 per cent of llic total population of England and Wales, say two millions all told.”