GIRLS WHO RUN AWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20162, 24 January 1929, Page 14

GIRLS WHO RUN AWAY.

TRAGEDY AND WHIM. DISAPPEARANCES IN SYDNEY. [FROM Ol' ft OWN CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY, Jan. 17. Every week in Sydney two girls vanish. It io partly tragedy and partly the result of whim of woman. This average is based on figures supplied, by the police covering the last 12 months, which are making people wonder what is wrong with civilisation. Why do girls, who are apparently happy and well-cared for, suddenly take it into their heads to disappear, bringing sorrow and anguish to those they know would bo willing to make any sacrifice for them. The recent case of a pretty 13-year-old schoolgirl is still fresh in the minds of the public. She simply left her bed one night and went away into tho unknown —and since then her parents have not h;vd tho slightest clue to her whereabouts. Most of the girls who vanish thus mysteriously are found again and handed back to their puzzled and sorrowful relatives. Unfortunately there are exceptions where the mystery of the disappearance lasts for ever.

Ono of tho most poignant of disappearances last year was that of the mother of a young family who, arrested and convicted of shop-lifting, stayed in gaol unknown to her husband and children, determined that they should not know of her fall. And all the while the distracted husband, aided by the police, scoured the city and suburbs for her.