HELP FOR FAMILIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 July 1943, Page 3

HELP FOR FAMILIES

AND VIGOROUS EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO ENCOURAGE BEST KIND OF IMMIGRATION. ADVOCATED BY NEW ZEALAND FARMERS’ UNION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Maintaining that children are not only the best but the cheapest immigrants, that human beings are the greatest asset of any land, and that the future population of New Zealand by New Zealand-born is not assured,, the Dominion conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union in Wellington last night decided urgently to request an immediate investigation of the economic, .social, and commercial reasons for the decline in the birth rate, the inquiry to deal with the reason for the increased cost of maternity, the maintenance, including housing, clothing and feedng, and the health preservation of children and their education on lines that will lead to good citizenship and mental, physical and moral wellbeing. It was advocated that the necessary steps be taken “to put the standard of living of large families on at least a parity with that of childless families; vigorous education of the public by all means available as to the importance of children to parents, to the community, and to the nation as a whole; the responsibilities of marriage; the honour and respect due to parenthood, and 'the dignity of the matrimonial state.”-