OUR BOYS AND GIRLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1698, 14 March 1913, Page 6

OUR BOYS AND GIRLS.

- - A PE6IisSOB'S;STAIISTICS. • , (By Telegraph;— Press Association.) . - . - Auckland, March 13. .» A' uoyel explanation of the shortage of boy and; girl labour was given by : Frofes- • tor "iiegar,, of Auckland University College. He" drew the attention of the Commission to ; the; tables in New Zealand

l'ear^S.oplv.l.in'the'shapterpreferring to the a'ges of the explained ' that the, proportion of .'.'youths of 15 yeais to 20 years was iower than normal,- while . the 'proportion, of people- of -25 'years .to 30 years . wife .higherthaii - the."aveivge., j Tliis condition lie attributed to the Hue- } tuations in the birth-rate and to the ef- . l'ccts of. immigration. ■ Thirty or 35.years. t • ago -the birth-rate was very high, then \ it rapidly "diminished until, about 1900, t since when it had 1 gradually risen. So i rapid was the fall during the j that the annual number, of births actual- \ ly diminished froni year to year. The i youthsl-of from 15 to 20 years were the ( survivors ofihe period of the low birth- j rate, and those of from 25 to 30 years of ( the period of the high .birth-rate. 1 . Consequently, said Professor Segar, the ] juvenile population, was at present not j proportionate., Dni'ing th'e;last few years . "immigration had be£n heavy;, .but o.wing ( to our. ;great distance' '.froin.'. the United ,i Kingdom onlj'-: a> small 'proportion of the - V immigrants were mon who brought families with -them. .They only swelled the' ; population of '20 ."years- and upwards. Theses two causcs explained the shortage ; of boy and" girl liboiir. The immediate ■ prosnect for the future was" consequently • a shortage of young men labour units.? j the snpply was maintained by immigration. • ..v ■ . a . Tlie statistics showed, concluded the speaker, that of-people between 25-years and 30 years of age, the males exceeded the females by 12-per cent., and.'tii.'f condition, indicated the strong desirability of increasing the female population by immigration if our natural: increase was to be maintained. .