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.