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Page 18
While the marriage passion remains normal, offspring cannot be limited
without the exercise of self-restraint on the part of both parties to
the marriage compact. Artificial means of inhibiting conception, and
intermittent restraint are antagonistic to the sexual instinct, and the
desire for limitation must be strong and mutual to counteract this
instinct within the marriage bond.
The reasons for this strong and very general desire, that marriage
should not result in numerous births must have some foundation. What is
it?
It cannot be poverty. New Zealand's economic experience has been one of
uniform progress and prosperity. There is abundant and fertile land in
these islands where droughts, floods, and famine years, are practically
unknown. Blissards and destructive storms are mysterious terms.
Fluctuations in production take place of course, but not such as to
result in want, to any noticeable extent. There are no extremes of heat
and cold, no extremes of drought and flood, no extremes of wealth and
poverty. The climate is equable, the progress is uniform, the classes
are at peace.
Every natural blessing that a people could desire in a country, is to be
found in New Zealand. Climate, natural fertility, and production,
unrivalled scenery in mountain, lake, and forest, everything to bless
and prosper the present, and inspire hope in the future. Why is it that,
with all this wealth, and with the country still progressing and yet
undeveloped, a desire exists in the heart of the people to limit
families.
The reason is social not economic, if one may contrast the terms.
Take women's attitude to the question first. Our women are well
educated. A state system of compulsory education has placed within the
reach of all a good education, up to what is known as the VI. or VII.
Standard, and only a very few in the colony have been too poor or too
rich to take advantage of it.
Most women can and do read an extensive literature, and to this they
have abundant access, for even small country towns have good libraries.
Alexandra, a little town of 400 inhabitants amongst the Central Otago
mountains, has a public library of several thousand volumes, and the
people take as much pride in this institution as in their school and
church.
People move about from place to place, and it is surprising how small
and even large families keep migrating from one part of the colony to
another. They are always making new friends and acquaintances, and with
these interchanging ideas and information.
Class distinctions have no clear and defined line of demarcation, and
there is a free migration between all the classes; the highest, which is
not very high, is always being recruited from those below, and from even
the lowest, which is not very low.
The highest class is not completely out of sight of any class below it,
and many families are distributed evenly over all the classes. A woman
is the wife of a judge, a sister is the President of a Woman's Union,
another sister is in a shop, and a fourth is married to a labourer.
If one of the poorer (they do not like "lower") class rises in the
social scale, he or she is welcome--if one of the richer (they do not
like "higher") falls, no effort is made by the class they formerly
belonged to to maintain her status in order to save its dignity or
repute.
In other words, there are not the hindrances to free migration between
the various strata of society that obtain in other lands. Not only is
that migration continually taking place, but there are very few who are
not touched by a consciousness of it.
Members of the lower strata, all well educated voters, can give
instances of friends, or relatives, or acquaintances, who are higher up
than themselves--have "made their way," have "risen in society," have
"done well," are "well off." And this consciousness inspires in all but
the very lowest classes an ambition to rise.
Because it is possible to rise, because others rise, the desire to be
migrating upwards soon takes possession of members of all but the lowest
or poorest class, or those heavily ballasted with a large or increasing
family.
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