The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1926. CARE OF CHILD LIFE.

Hokitika Guardian, 19 April 1926, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is in corporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1926. CARE OF CHILD LIFE.

At one time it Was fashionable in British statistical circles to comment on the appallingly low birth rate of the French nation, and the family man used to rather pride himself on the number of mouths he fed—grumblingly, of course, but nevertheless he was rather proud of his brood. It is only a very few years ngo since it was quite customary to talk about five when averaging families. Where will you find a family of five 10-dav P There is no use blinking the fact that our birth-rate is decreasing far too quickly. fiays the Auckland “Star.” If New Zealand had increased at the rate that was leomsideved natural filft.v years or so ago there would lie no need for all this bother about immigration. With a normally healthy birth-rate Now Zealand should in the eighty-odd years of her existence have been independent of immigration in 1926. Bui the people have willed it otherwise. In view of this depressing fall in our New Zealand birth-rate, the wonderful success of the. Dominion’s policy of paying special attention to infant welfare is rdl the more important. Strange as it may seem this good work is largely neutralising the lack of births. Of course, it is only >1 stop-gap, hut still it is a stopgap. Not only does the wonderfully complete system of looking after the infant help our weak birth-rate, hut it also naturally helps New Zealand to make a better showing in the deathrate. The number of infants under one year of age whose deaths were registered during 1925 was 1125. this number being two less than the remarkably low figure for 1924 (1127). The infantile mortality rate per 1000 live births reached the phenomenally low figure of 39.9(5, thus establishing another new record. The previous best was 40.23, registered for 1924. It is interesting to compare New Zealand’s remarkably low rate with those of some other Countries. Norway comes next to us with 53, South Africa 74. England and Whies 75, Scotland 98. Germany 108, and Hungary 18G.