Wanted : Population

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 39, 24 September 1903, Page 18

Wanted : Population

Mr. Seddon is still 4 onaisy in his mind ' over the empty cradles of New Zealand and the diminished flow of immigration. He is disposed, apparently, to try the old and worn-out quack remedy of a bonus for large families, or a preference to them in the distribution of subdivided estates-. The Right Hon. gentleman might as well propose to spray a rodent ulcer with rose-water or cure the smell of a glue-factory by daintily sprinkling its door-sills with eau-de-Cologne. During one of the most corrupt periods of the old Roman Empire ' The world was grown so wary That few of either sex would marry.' The Emperor Augustus— who, be it said in the softest whisper, was even a mightier man than ' Our King Richard '—tried to give a fillip to the marriage market and to increase population by fierce laws against celibacy, and by conferring various valuable privileges upon the fathers of three children. So much we learn from Dion Cassius. But Augustus was wasting his time. The utmost ' inducements ' failed to induce in his day. They will fail as ingloriously in the hands of Mr. Seddon. The trouble lies deeper. What is wanted is an energetic propaganda of Catholic teaching on the nature and obligations of the marriage bond.