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63
of free milk to expectant and nursing mothers and children under
5 years of age. It is no longer just a matter of individual betterment
but of national necessity that a minimum scale of nutrition as well
as housing be provided for everyone in the country. So long as the
grim struggle for life continues in the working classes, we shall find
them physically weak and more and more unwilling to bring up
families. Restriction of the number of children in a family is by
no means most marked among the poor. Middle class families are
noted for their preference for Baby Austins over the human variety,
and it has been suggested that the best way of inducing these folk
to raise a family is that of a family allowance, payable to married
persons of every class. This has been tried in other countries
with doubtful success. In all these attempts to embark on a competitive
race in procreation and to bully or bribe the youth of today
to beget and bear more babies than they want, the woman is
frequently ignored, but the emancipation of women probably has
had as much effect as anything. Even if anyone wanted it, a
return to the high rate of the Victorian era is impossible. Mothers
are not now content to spend their whole lives simply to bring forth
and rear children. Women have widened their outlook and have
many and diverse interests outside their own households.
The promised Government Committee may devise means to
increase the birth-rate, but so long as bombing aircraft and poison
gas pervade the minds, so long as there is exposure to the risks of
unemployment, poverty and bad housing, there is an arnswer to
the advocates of wholesale fertility. Remove these motives for
deliberate infecundity, the present trend of population may
gradually change.
DEATHS.
At the end of each year, or more correctly, towards the end
of May, a summary of the vital statistics of the district is received
from the Registrar General in which is given the estimated population,
the number of births and a short list of deaths. We are supposed
to have received the full list of deaths previously, and the
totals in the summary should correspond to the numbers in the
death returns. Usually the important items in the different returns
correspond, such as the total number of deaths, infantile deaths,
the deaths from definite diseases, &c., but this year a discrepancy
occurs. According to the Registrar General the deaths belonging
to the district were 801. In the weekly returns of the local registrar
and the quarterly outside returns, the total number is 794,
2nd on this number the statistics are based. The cause of the