DECLINE IN THE BIRTH-RATE 203 



for households to obtain domestic servants, either 

 from the population at hand or by immigration from 

 older countries. The motive at work among that 

 section of the community which forms the numerical 

 majority and controls the legislation, seems to be the 

 economic fallacy of trying to raise wages by restricting 

 the immigration even of good workers, and a mistaken 

 idea of independence, which regards domestic service 

 as a dishonourable and degrading form of occupation. 

 This state of mind throws a curious light on the 

 attitude towards a home prevalent in such colonies. 

 It is a matter of common experience in older countries, 

 with both those who employ domestic servants and 

 those who undertake the office, that service in a well- 

 regulated household is the best possible preparation for 

 the duties of married life in after years. Indeed, it 

 would be strange if domestic service were the only 

 department of labour where adequate preparation 

 rendered a person less fit to undertake or organize 

 similar work in their turn. 



Owing, then, to the impossibility of obtaining 

 suitable assistance in the homes, in such colonies, 

 parents of talent and ability, other than of a manual 

 kind, find themselves in social conditions which com- 

 pel them to restrict their children to that number for 

 which the wife herself can perform the household 

 duties of cooking and cleaning. 



But, from the point of view of the community, a 

 woman of ability is far better employed in giving birth 

 to and educating able children, than in cooking dinners 

 and washing clothes — work which, in the main, is 

 suitable to a different type of mind and body. Hitherto, 



