Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1895. SUDDEN EXITS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4975, 14 March 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1895. SUDDEN EXITS.

" When all the blandishments of life are gone," " The coward sneaks to death, tho brave live on."

Suicide, as a means of shuffling out of the -world, is steadily on the increase in a greater proportion than the growth of population. What causes men and women and even children to seek self-slaughter it is diflicult to accurately ascertain. Drink and poverty no doubt supply the motive, so do unrequited love and jealousy, The break-neck express speed of modern life, entailing as it does, a greater strain than the human nerve can bear, hurries some unfortunates to seek relief in death, Monotony of life, the same unvarying routine day after day, causes others to commit suicide. Some despatch themselves from motives of pure" cussedness," while others destroy themselves out of mistaken notions of kindness, as in the case of the Dublin youth, who, after spending a few shillings in articles entitling him to insurance coupons, went and drowned hipiqelf in order that his mother might receive the insurance money, There are other causes, such, for instanco, as a jnan ((riven despprate by the fear of exposure of pp'fnp, ftnd the creaturp bump of cqn.cejt js tqq large tq per : mit of his living, and who seeks a highly sensational mode of suicide. Such generally leave behind them letters of questionable interest and pf q, philosophic character, as exppiplifipf} in the case of one Dr. f aiinei', jjrjip left a letter saying; " I "am weary of tlfe lyprld. I was " brought into it without njy consent, " aud I do not see why I may not "leave j,t how and when I please," eJf-4 psfrucjfcion is on the increase, and tliflsp who flight in the cqllec: tion of cold statistics fwfttsb some utaitling figures and facts. It is tfiftt the annual prop of Sides In Europe 60,000 self-murders £'o ™°™ d annually, and of this list 2,u, boys and girls between the ages of i) and 15, There are features about this gruesome mode of death; the pleasure ground of tho suicide is Central Europo, from the north-east of France to the East of Germany. Tho Germans are the most suicidal race on the earth, while the Spanish and the Slavonic are the least suicidal, Mountaineers show little disposition to destroy themselves;' suicide'is most preyalent in the neighbourhood of greatrivers; while people in marshy countries are less

addicted to it> Iu Europe, the month ™f fa voured for self-destruction \r j ' ff '"' e December is least so. Monda ys, Tuesdays and Thursdays are *h most suicidal days of the I™' but women show a preference . , " u nday. Suicide statistics are given, showing the rate per 100,000 people, under the tables: Saxony ' shows 81'1; Denmark, 25'8; Austria, 21'2; France, 189; Germany, 143; Prussia, 13-3; England, 7*38 j Italy, 3'7; United States, 3'5; Russu, 2'9; Ireland, 17; Spain, 14. Soldiers ' show a great partiality to make an exit by suicide, In the Austrian army the average is 131 per 100,000; 67 in the German army; 40 in the Italian; 29 in the French; and2o in tho Russian. There is a ghastliness about these figures that repels us, and yet we fancy far too much sympathy is shown when tho tragic details of a suicide are brought to light. A dramatic kind of death attracts notice, and we lavish tears of pity over tlie unfortunate miscreant. How is society to stem the torrent of yearly increasing suicides, is a question that we cannot answer, and we ' doubt if law and custom together will prevent its growth, for it pos- ' scsses something of the naturo and laws of an epidemic.