An Ancient Race.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue XXI, 25 May 1901, Page 966

An Ancient Race.

Among the revelations made by the census affecting* us as a community is the fact that we are really an old people. More than half of our population is composed of adults—a state of things that does not exist in any European country outside of France. The children are already in the minority, and it appears that there is a growing tendency in that direction. Where such a tendency must end is perfectly plain. There will come a time when the merry voice of childhood will have become as rare in the land as the note of the tui is in some districts, and we are a community of middle-aged and elderly people wending our lonely way to the grave. What a ghastly prospect, if you consider it! Yet folks do not consider it much or one might expect a boom in the baby market instead of the decided slump now indicated by the frequent advertisement wanting some kind person to adopt an infant of tender years. In the days to come such advertisements will have no place in our journals, but the wanted columns will probably teem with earnestly worded entreaties for babies as they now do for servant girls.