MORE WEDDINGS & BABIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1920, Page 2

MORE WEDDINGS & BABIES.

NEW RECORDS.

Love still laughs at locksmiths, house agents, and profiteers. Marriage is on the increase, and somehow the happy couples solve the housing problem. Throughout 1919 in England and Wales the marriage rate was higher and infant mortality lower than in any year on record (says tho Daily Mail). There were were 369,007 marriages—B2,2oo more than in 1918. These couples have all found homes, even those who live in London,

The head of one of the largest house furnishing firms in London said: "Thousands of young married people have begun housekeeping from the moment they left the shop. Three or four, and perhaps even half a dozen, families live in one house."

The number of persons married during the third quarter of 1919 shows an increase of 10,252 over the preceding quarter, and 54,444 more tlhan the corresponding quarter of 1918. It is the highest quarterly number recorded and corresponds to a yearly rate of 22.4 per 1000 of the population. Last year 892,680 babies were born, 29,907 more than in 1018, The births registered in the fourth quarter were 48;202 more than in the preceding quarter and 61,794 more than the fourth quartex of 1918—tlhe highest number recorded in any fourth quarter for the last 14 years. Equally satisfactory are the figures for infant mortality, which equalled 71 per 1000, being 37 per 1000 below the average in the ten preceding fourth quarters —a record.

As there were 504,254 deaths in 1919, births exceeded them by 188,426. In 191S there were 611,991 deaths.