"KEEP THE CRADLE FULL."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9183, 4 September 1908, Page 5

"KEEP THE CRADLE FULL."

A REPLY TO DR. PINDLAY. WHY DOESN'T THE GOVERNMENT ASSIST? A Kaituna settler, who has addressed a letter to the AttorneyGeneral on the declining birth-rate ques ion, forwards us a copy, which is as follows:—"Asa New Zealander, I am deeply interested in all matters affect.ng the Dominion's welfare. Special'y am I interested in your utterances in regard to the declining birth-ra.e question, for I am a married mai:, to some extent chargeable with being; remiss in my duty in the matter of a full cradle. But in spite of my acknowledged short-comings I would repudiate the idea that buch reraissn.??.. proceds from < a selfish and di.t/ul -V.)te.iipt J a duly owing b'' such as in 2 to the State. ""It is all very w-,11, sir, fur people in. affluent circumstances to ab>* o ; other people for failing !',l what they declare to be a duty, when the performance of that duty by themselves entuils neither hardship nor privation. It is .cut human nature to magnify tl.e virtue~of those duties which comes easiest to us. "Were you, sir, a "back-blocktr," struggling to eke out a bare existence on a two-hundred-acre farm, comprising steep hills and rough gullies, and perhaps loaded with a big mortgage, you would, perhaps, j'in with ™m.e -A u,? in thinking that | there arc circumstancei in life where the law of self-preservation leaver little room for altruistic considerations, i We married "ba^ck-blockers" ac- \ knowledge that the "State has a right to expect from us certain sell-sacri-ficing duties. But we, on the other hand, contend that the State has reciprocal duties which it should perform, not the least of # these being in the direction of assisting and encouraging citizens in all matters which make for its own best interests. But the State gives us no encouragement in certain directions ■- rather the reverse-- for has it not illegalised the employment of other than certificated nurses as mid-wives? Again, were it sympathetic it would have come to our rescue when the medical profession (as is instanced in this district) conspire to raise its dhevtime fee of three guineas to four, with- m\ additional guinea should on' 6 more than the usual number of professional visits be required. "S'liva week or two ago my wife —no? perhaps entirely with patriotic motives'—made a small contribution to the' 4 Dominion's population. What with a nurse and medical man under present tariff conditions, this duty-to-the-Stftte business cost me a tidy sum, one which I could ill afford, as it replanted the net value of three wool. In spite of the value of *hfe services rendered by my wife and self the State flatly refuses other than an abstract acknowledgment of those services. Sir, so long as it continues to preserve this attitude, so long will be heard the cry of a declining birthrate. Let it alter its present policy to us and I venture to prophesy that many cradles, now hidden away in hay-loft or barn, would again . be part and parcel of the kitchen furniture. "Yuur keen interest in this matter, and its great urgency will, I hope, induce you to pardon the hint or suggestion which a humble settler out back has boldly presumed to offer you."