The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1916. INFANT LIFE SAVING CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2953, 16 December 1916, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1916. INFANT LIFE SAVING CAMPAIGN

The Royal New Zealand Society for the Health of Women and Children, popularly known ■as the Plunket ■ Society, thoroughly deserves the high praise bestowed upon it by the Minister of Public Health (the Hon. G. W. Russell). This society is doing national work of the utmost importance, and it is satisfactory to know that energetic efforts are ■ about_ to be made to largely increase its funds, and thereby enable it ;to extend its sphere of. influence. Mb. Russell thinks that the time has come to drganise the society on a national basis, and he intends to inaugurate a big money-raising campaign on its .behalf early in the Now. Year. The society has abundantly justified its "existence. It has undertaken a mission which should receive the whole-hearted sympathy and support, of the whole community, and the coming appeal for'funds ought to evoke a ready and enthusiastic response. A. great deal of the success that has been so far achieved is due to the large amount of time and thought which Dh. Tkuby King has ; devoted, to the work of the society. He experienced'much difficulty at first in making people believe that there was any real need for an organised infant life-saving movement in , a healthy and prosperous young nation like New Zealand. But he gradually succceded in proving that there was ample scope for the society's operations. The Plunket Nurses have won the confidence of the. womenfolk whereever they .have established themselves, and their advice and . assistance is eagerly sought. The war has emphasised the value of the work which these trained women are doing. The life of every child is, precious to the nation. An increase in the birth-rate is highly desirable, and it is equally desirable that every child' born should receive the best possiblo start in lifemental and physical. No amount of attention in after years can make up for the harm done to children through ignorance an'cl neglect during the first few years of their life. The fact that the birth-rate in New Zealand has fallen from 36.4 per thousand for the period from 1882 to 1886 to 25.33 per thousand in 1915 is in itself enough to make thoughtful people realise the importance of a well-organised and in-telligently-directed movement for promoting the welfare of the nation's babies. The Government cannot divest itself of responsibility in this matter merely, by giving its patronage and a subsidy to the Plunket Society. Every civilised nation is beginning to realise that tho population problem will have to bo grappled with in a thorough manner. There has been an almost world-wide, decrease in the birthrate during the past thirty years. In Prance the position has become extremely serious. _ In .1911, the last census .year, the birth-rate stood at 18.7 per thousand, and the deaths actually exceeded tho births by 34,869. This, as a recent writer points out, means a net loss for the year in population equivalent to a good-sized town. There was some re-

covery in 1912, the births numbering 750,651 and the deaths 692,740; in 1913 thero were 715,539 births and 703,638 deaths; in 1914 the births numbered 594,<222, and the deaths 647,549. There has also been a heavy fall in the German birth-rate. The Berliner Tacjeblatt recently stated that_within six years the births in Berlin have decreased' by .50 per cent. This matter has caused much anxiety to tho German Government, and measures are already being devised for the purpose of maintaining the population and making good the wastage of war'. One German professor advocates the legislation of polygamy as a remedy. He asks would it. not be advisable—even imperative—to. lay aside after the ,war the severe moral code Which restricts civilised peoples to monogamy, and to make a start by giving some permission to "the courageous fighters returning from battle" to practice polygamy under certainconditions. In England and Wales the birth-rate has fallen from 36.3 per thousand in 1876 to 24.1 in 1913. Commenting on this decrease', the British Registrar-General states that if the fertility of married women, in proportion to their numbers, had been as high in 1912 as in 1876-80, the legitimate births would have numbered 1,290,480, instead of the 835,209 actually recorded. The New Zealand Government .Statistician estimates that if the 1882-86 rate (»f increase in the population had been maintained till 1915, there would have been 240,000 more people in New Zealand at the end of last year.

The problem crcatccl bv the falling birth-rate.is beset with difficulties, but it. would be unreasonable to conclude that it is insoluble. The problem of saving the lives of tho children that are born is not so difficult, but it is not less urgent or less important. In, his address in Auckland on Monday last Dr. Truby King stated' that tho rate of infantile mortality in New Zealand was the lowest in the world. It stood at 8 per .cent, in Dunedin before the Plunket Society ca,me into existence. It has now fallen to 3 4-5 per cent'., and Dr. King hopes that it will soon be as low as 3 per cent. In the' rate is very much higher, but it has fallen during the last forty years from 150 to 95 per thousand births. .Everyone competent to expess an opinion on the subject positively declares that with proper care the rate might still bo greatly reduced. In one French Commune no infant died during a period of two years, infant life being protected by regulations of a very _ stringent nature. But that experiment was on a comparatively small scale. Sir James tells us that some causes of infantile mortality are not preventable, but the preventable causes are more numerous than the non-preventable, and are largely within the 'reach of control. Great results may be achieved by timely help to the mother, and skilled supervision; Bad mothering is responsible for a very large propor-. tion of infantile mortality, and "if progress is to bo,mad6 mothers must be trained to motherhood, and the infant must be met at the vestibule of life, and watched and guided through the peculiar dangers by which it is then encompassed." The Plunket Society was brought into existence for the purpose of teaching the art of good-mothering. Its nurses are doing their work well. They 'are spreading much, useful information _ regarding the proper nurture of children. But they are comparatively few in number, and only a small proportion of the mothers of the 28,000 children born in New Zealand every year can avail them'' selves of their help. There is ample scope for a very large extension of oganised infant welfare work siuh as that which is being done by the Plunket Society, and the State will have to pay much more attention than it does present to the nurture and upbringing of the nation's children. A child's capacity for living a healthy, useful life is generally decided before it goes to school. During the first six years its future may be made or marred.