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Star (Christchurch), Issue 5760, 2 January 1897, Page 5

No disgrace attaches to self-slaughter among the Japanese, with the result that, on the average, about 4COO males and nearly 3000 females commit suicide every year. In the years 1890-91 14,799 men and 6188 women hanged themselves, 52G9 men and 6825 women drowned themselves, 1234 men and 597 women performed " the happy despatch " with knives or swords, 390 men and 32 women shot themselves, 206 men and 131 women took poison, and 1072 men and 349 women killed themselves in miscellaneous fashion. July iv particular, and the summer months in general, axe, as in, Europe, the favourite times for • suicide. Most curious are tho causes of suicide. It appears that 10,049 of the men and 6782 of the women committed suicide through madness, 533S men and 1986 women through "distress or grief regarding means of living, or some misfortune," 2610 men and 1674 women through " bodily suffering (sickness)," 782 men and 1107 women through "love and affection," and 1036 men and 363 women through "remorse aid shame." .