41 
rate of 11.7 per cent. We in Australia are so crushing our houses 
together that the death rate of our children is greater than that of 
London, where 0 per cent, go out in their first year. \ et with proper 
city planning as at Port Sunlight, England, the death rate can be 
lowered to 8 per cent. Some years ago this State had the highest 
infant death rate, under one year, in the Commonwealth, at one 
time over 14 per cent., but during 1 91(1, 1917, and 1918 it is pro- 
bably the lowest in the Commonwealth, being slightly over 6 per 
cent, of the births, or 60.5 per .1,000 births. Under 5 years the 
deaths averaged 2314 per cent, of the whole deaths. The total death 
rate is 9.8 per 1,000 of the population. 
We must do better than we have done in conserving our baby life 
by taking greater care of the mothers of the nation. We can aug- 
ment our man power best by improving the workmen’s homes, by 
beautifying them individually, and in the mass, by preserving the 
sancitv of the home and keeping the flag ‘‘one family, one house” 
Hying by abolishing overcrowding; by getting the factories and the 
workers out into the environs of t lie* city by rapid communication 
services to zones where land is cheaper, where air is pure, and where 
the children, in their garden villages, will grow up taller, stronger, 
deeper in the chest, freer from physical defects, happier, more likely 
to be stalwart effectives in the wealth-creating forces of the State, 
and less likely to he a burden on the community. We wish to look 
ahead, and plan tor the future as well as the present, to save piling 
up an unnecessary burden on the next generation, which, in many 
cases, we can now prevent without cost to ourselves. 
A e wish to seize the opportunity when it presents itself, as our 
means allow, and at the lowest possible cost, to rectify some of the 
many mistakes made in the past, which, if not dealt with, will be- 
come more accentuated as time goes on. 1 niniproved. land costs 
less to purchase than improved land. 
Londo n Conference. 
Xow, m 1910 a Town Planning Conference was held in Lon- 
don, and there were present 3(58 delegates from 214 Corporations, 
Councils, and Societies from all parts of the world. 
The Right Hon. John Burns, M.P., was the President and wel- 
comed the delegates on behalf of the Prime Minister and His Mai 
esty’s Government. Mr. Burns was the author of the English Hous- 
ing and Town Planning Act which was passed by Parliament in the 
year 1909. T quote a few extracts from his address to the dele- 
gates :■ — 
“Environment has a wonderful effect on character. It is not an 
accident that the beautiful manor house, the restful vicarage the 
stately homes of England, and the beautiful public schools and col- 
leges have turned out the Ruslans, the Kingsleys, the Morrises the 
Ac] sons, the Newtons and the Darwins. 
