THE ADVANTAGE OF A BIG FAMILY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 841, 13 June 1910, Page 9

THE ADVANTAGE OF A BIG FAMILY.

In almost 'every country in the world philanthropists and social students have urged upon Governments the unfair handicap which weighs upon tho average wage-earner who has to support a large family. The point needs no elaboration (says the Sydney "Daily Telegraph"). Every child that is horn is an asset to his nation, but the parents often find that the child is not only no asset to the individual family, hut a drag upon its existence. In almost every corner of the earth where , the white races have their being, 'the' birth-rate problem is the cause of. more or less anxiety. Although tho philosopher cries, "Bo comforted in your children, tho State that reaps the benefit'shall help to bear the burden!" Nebulous schemes have been put forward at various times, but few have proved practicable One of the strongest desires of a parent is to mako provision for his .children's education, and while the State assists every parent as far as primary education is concorried, only a limited number have been helped—by scholarships and bursaries—to secure higher education. Hitherto no distinction has been made between tho father of ten and the father of one. It was .merely a question of mental capacity Now, however, tho thin edge of the bonns system for families has been introduced in .New South Wales, since, nccording to the new schomo of bursaries, consideration is given when allotting them, to the number of children in the family.