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.