Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

THE POPULATION QUESTION IN FRANCE.

It is a strange commentary upon those who would settle New Zealand in potato patches that the French Government is contemplating exactly the reverse step. The other day it was announced that legislative action was proposed to encourage the increase of population. This sounded funny, and most people, no doubt, thou slit it was a •' muddlogram, ' But now we are told the details of tlie proposnls. The law which decrees the equal division of landed property among ohidren at the death of their parents is to be repealed, and .small families and. bachelors are to be specially taxed. It is well known that the French as a nation have | for many years purposely limited their families, so that their children may have sufficiont land to live upon. The result has been that for many years the population of the country has been almost stationary. Since IS2I the increase has been only from 30,000,000, to 38,000,000 and of late years the increase has been almost confined to foreigners iesident in the country. Such a state of affairs in a country situated as France can only be regarded in a very serious light. While her hereditary enemies are not only increasing fast in population, but have millions of subjects in other countries, more or less available as a fighting force in a emergencv, France fiuds herself praticallv stationary. Every year increases this disparity in population, and the larger population can always put the larger army in the field. This is wnat is troubling the French Government. The ancients used to honour the mother of many sons, and in later times the ' Napoleon always promoted soldiers who had seven sons or more. But thi3 is the first time on record that the Government of a srreat nation has deliberately set itself to devise legislation to encourage large families, and to use the taxing ( machine to thlit end. ' i i 5 ' « I ■ j

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18920806.2.35.14

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3130, 6 August 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

Word count
Tapeke kupu
324

THE POPULATION QUESTION IN FRANCE. Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3130, 6 August 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE POPULATION QUESTION IN FRANCE. Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3130, 6 August 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert