BABY TALK. Mr. Seddon on Child-Life Preservation.

Free Lance, Volume IV, Issue 203, 21 May 1904, Page 6

BABY TALK. Mr. Seddon on Child-Life Preservation.

THE Premiei's heart has prompted him to go into the question of the preservation of infant life m New Zealand and suggest, not only means for that preservation, but the manner in which people may be induced to overcome the growing prejudice against reasonably large families. Extremely important is his suggestion that an. Act should be passed requiring midwives to qualify before they proceed to practice. The days are gone by when the Sairey G-amps and Betsy Pries should be allowed to exercise their ignorance. • • * At present, as we all know, a great number of ladies, no doubt perfectly estimable in many ways, "do a bit of nursing" m a desultory way. They may have skill — or they may not. If nursing is their forte, Mr. Seddon wants to give them a chance of qualifying, and adopting it as a recognised profession. It would be better for the babies if a standard of skill were laid down and the unskilful ones weeded out. The poor are the most prolific, and the least able financially to be so. * * Mr Seddon wants the State to keep its own nurses, and to see that the children of the poor have as good a chance as the children of those who are not poor. The prospect of homelessness, disgrace, and sorrow for an unborn child has led to desperate crime and suicide ere now. The Premier advocates State maternity homes to lessen the despair, minimise the crime, and prevent the suicide. Why should the State interfere? The State's finest asset is the babies of its people, and, as a business concern, the State is bound, m its own interest, sooner or later to do what Mr. Seddon suggests, and what humanity dictates ♦ * * Although we are fairly enlightened — m some vital particulars far too enlightened — appalling cases of ignorance of ordinary child-treatment cror> up frequently. Mothers would learn in time, under State tuition, that beefsteak and suet pudding, with a drop of beer to wash it down, is not food or drink for a six-months-old baby. Some people wonder why they have to pay undertakers' bills If the State undertakes the training of nurses for this examination, it ought also to see that prospective parents pay only a reasonable sum for their services. The thought of the bill in this connection is often the reason of a resolution on the part

of parents to allow Johnny to remain their youngest child. • • * The suggested training of a great number ot girls to the nursing profession would supply a very great need. No profession is nobler. It is a pity so many people should regard as competent any woman at all who, having had children, is supposed to be able to accept the responsibility ot midwifery. It is horrible to have to believe that in many reported. cases neglected infants have been as heavily insured as possible. The speculating on the amount that might be raised on a dead infant i 3 possibly the. greatest horror of life insurance, and, as Mr. Seddon points out, is happily not frequent in New Zealand. • * • However, his suggestion to make it illegal to' insure an infant for a greater sum than £5 may be the means of saving lives of value to the State. It is, evident the Premier has expended much thought on the auestion of child-life preservation The question is one of much more vital importance than State life insurance, the referendum, or the licensing laws. It is the most important question ever put before the public of New Zealand. That the Premier will get all the support he wants in his endeavour to lift the reproach that a shortage of infants, is retarding the progress of New Zealand, there is no doubt. The people have got to be taught, however, that babies are not undesirables. They are New Zealand's most pressing necessity.