de prevailing in the community and provided with such a
weapon--even though it is likely to explode in their own hands--women
will continue to limit their families. No social legislation, however
generous, will prevent it, nor, as far as the Committee can see, will
legal prohibitions do much to restrict it.

Two lines of action are suggested:--

(1) To direct the knowledge of birth-control through more
responsible channels, where, while the methods advised would be
more reliable, the responsibilities and privileges of motherhood,
the advisability of self-discipline in certain directions, and
other aspects of the question could be discussed.

It is this view which has led the Committee to the recommendations it
has made in the discussion of birth-control.

(2) To appeal to the womanhood of New Zealand in so far as selfish
and unworthy motives have entered into our family life, to consider
the grave physical and moral dangers, not to speak of the dangers
of race suicide which are involved.

We can but urge all those who have to do with the education of our
youth and the moulding of women's opinion to give these matters earnest
consideration, and the Committee is of the opinion that it is necessary
to develop the education of young people in biology and physiology in
our primary and secondary schools as a foundation for a more rational
and wholesome outlook on sex matters.

(5) CONTRACEPTION.

The practice of contraception is a debatable question, and one on which
the most varied evidence has been given.

Witnesses opposed this practice, some on moral grounds, some with the
plea for a greater natural increase in the population of New Zealand.

Others again, particularly the representatives of women's
organizations, advocated the establishment of clinics for the general
instruction of married women in the practice of reliable methods of
contraception. They expressed the opinion, and some of them supported
their opinions with sound argument and overseas experience, that the
instruction of the mothers of New Zealand in the practice of
child-spacing rather than resulting in a diminution of the birth-rate
might well cause an increase in the size of many families, for, in
addition to enabling mothers to plan their families, such clinics also
specialize in propaganda calculated to awaken women to an appreciation
of the privileges and responsibilities of motherhood.

The Committee