and a thoughtless tenderness,--a
tenderness to the young in not calling upon them to provide for
the decent and comfortable departure of their progenitors; and a
tenderness to the old lest the man, when uninstructed and unconscious
of good and evil, should be unwilling to leave the world for which
he is not fitted. But such tenderness is no better than unpardonable
weakness. Statistics have told us that the sufficient sustenance of
an old man is more costly than the feeding of a young one,--as is
also the care, nourishment, and education of the as yet unprofitable
child. Statistics also have told us that the unprofitable young and
the no less unprofitable old form a third of the population. Let the
reader think of the burden with which the labour of the world is thus
saddled. To these are to be added all who, because of illness cannot
work, and because of idleness will not. How are a people to thrive
when so weighted? And for what good? As for the children, they are
clearly necessary. They have to be nourished in order that they may
do good work as their time shall come. But for whose good are the old
and effete to be maintained amid all these troubles and miseries? Had
there been any one in our Parliament capable of showing that they
could reasonably desire it, the bill would not have been passed.
Though to me the politico-economical view of the subject was always
very strong, the relief to be brought to the aged was the one
argument to which no reply could be given.

It was put forward by some who opposed the movement, that the old
themselves would not like it. I never felt sure of that, nor do I
now. When the colony had become used to the Fixed Period system,
the old would become accustomed as well as the young. It is to be
understood that a euthanasia was to be prepared for them;--and how
many, as men now are, does a euthanasia await? And they would depart
with the full respect of all their fellow-citizens. To how many does
that lot now fall? During the last years of their lives they were to
be saved from any of the horrors of poverty. How many now lack the
comforts they cannot earn for themselves? And to them there would be
no degraded feeling that they were the recipients of charity. They
would be prepared for their departure, for the benefit of their
country, surrounded by all the comforts to which, at their time of
life, they would be susceptible, in a college maintained at the
public expense; and each, as he d