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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 34, 17 March 1914, Page 6

The London doctor who suggests that suffragette hunger strikers should not be restrained from starving themselves to death raises a very interesting question regarding the value of human life. Society has gone to extraordinary lengths, in modern times, to preserve human life, and the laud is filled with institutions whose sole object is to assist in the survival of the unfit, to restore the ravages of disease, to repair poor broken bodies, to prevent persons whose minds are hopelessly disordered from destroying themselves, and generally to keep alive persons who are a misery to themselves and an encumbrance to the community. Yfe point with pride to these institutions and to the unselfish efforts of those who run them, as evidence of the growth of altruism and the humanitarian spirit. Is it all a mistake? Should we allow, people, to starve themselves if they want to do so, to die for want of nursing and medical skill, or to suicide when tired of life? It seems to us that Dr Mercier does not go far enough, that he lacks the courage of his own convictions. To be logical, he should propose means jof getting rid of the useless people. If the humanitarianism of the present age is misplaced, and a sterner attitude towards the troublesome, the diseased, and the

undesirable members of the community [. is to take- its place, there should be express provision for getting rid of all these people. It is easy to say the value of human life is exaggerated, but it is quite another thing to say that it should be destroyed, and the cold-blooded medico whore opinions are being cabled round the world shoull try and enlighten us a little further.