(a) Day Nurseries

Abstract

THE birth-rate in this country has fallen steadily now for more than a generation ; T the brief increase which took place round about the end of the war has now subsided, and the present rate is not substantially above the rate during the inter-war years. It is indeed questionable if the number of children born during the next few years will be enough to maintain the population at its present level. This may or may not be a good thing.At the other end of the scale, owing to the increased expectation of life, the number of the aged has been steadily increasing, and it was estimated in the white paper on national insurance that in 1970 there will be thirty-two persons over pensionable age for every hundred contributors. These figures, taken in conjunction, mean that the children for whose care we are now responsible, will have to maintain in the future a larger number of dependants at the twilight end of life together with a large number of dependants in the dawn of life. It must not be forgotten that the school-leaving age is due to be increased to sixteen years in the near future.At the present time, these two dependent groups-children of school age and under, and men and women of pensionable age and over-are not yet in combination as many as they have been in the past nor as many as they will be in the future ; the falling birth-rate has not yet been compensated in numbers by the increase in the numbers of the aged.The task before our children who are now being born is frightening, but fortunately they do not realize what they will have to face. It would, however, appear to be sound common sense and good economics to ensure that they should receive the best ' possible attention, and that every effort should be made to make them, as far as is humanly possible, perfect specimens of manhood and womanhood when they eventually enter the labour market. This is not a matter of sentiment. It is a matter of sound economics. The hardbitten industrialist, with his valuable machine tools, will take the greatest possible care that they are not neglected, that they do not lie exposed to the weather and that they do not fail to receive constant attention to keep them at their highest pitch of efficiency. He looks after his tools because he has to pay for them. He does not pay directly for his human machines, but in the end he pays the full cost for both. The human machine, however, takes fifteen to sixteen years or more to produce, and is amongst the most expensive tools in industry ; it certainly takes longer to produce than any other machine, and all the advances in science cannot bring it to perfection in a briefer period than was necessary a million years ago. It is fortunate that the necessity to give the highest possible standard of care to the child has been recognized in this country for many years, and particular credit must be given to successive Ministers of Food, who have done much to ensure that children of all social grades shall at least have an adequate amount of the most valuable types of food ; selective rati...