JUVENILE SUICIDE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 32, 1 November 1928, Page 11

JUVENILE SUICIDE

EPIDEMIC IN LONDON

“WORLD-WEARY AT SIXTEEN” (Australian Press Association.) London, October 30. Tlie Westminster Coroner, commenting on the death of a sixteeu-year-old office girl who jumped from a fifth floor window in a fit of pique because she was mildly rebuked, said that a wave of juvenile suicide was sweeping London. “World-weary at sixteen,” he said, “it is amazing that, too many young people seem to hold life lightly.” He recalled that, a girl committed suicide because she had to wear her mother’s black hat at a funeral, that a wealthy young man cut himself while shaving, and in a fit of annoyance jumped out of the window; that a young man witii his hands in his pockets jumped into the Thames without reason. “Weariness before the age of discretion seems to be common with the rising generation.” The Coroner’s remarks have prompted many prominent people to give their views. Mr. Eldon Moore, editor of the “Eugenics Review,” says that, to put it bluntly, science nowadays is keeping alive babies who otherwise would not survive. Tlie so-called world-weary boys and girls belong to that category.” Dame Mary Scharlieb, the surgeon, says that the epidemic may be largely accounted for by the taking up of the responsibilities of life earlier than used to be the case. Dr. Bernard Hollander, the mental specialist, says that suicide whims can seize the strongest-minded, who later grow into healthy citizens. Tlx? “unsound mind” verdict is often a fiction to soothe relatives.