INCREASE OF SUICIDE IN ENGLAND

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXII, Issue 12436, 8 April 1908, Page 4

INCREASE OF SUICIDE IN ENGLAND

An offijial record published in the United States shows that the total number of deaths attributable to suicide during 1907 uuioaiHeu to 1u,782, being an increase of thirty a day. The main cause of this alarjiiing increase is btated to be the "hustling" nature df life in America. J lugniuu nas not yet reached so terrible a total in the number of her suicides, tuougn the- steady increase of such deaths in recent years may well serve to sound a* note of warning. England, indeed, compares very favourably in this matter with other nations, for, according to the table drawn up by M. Bertillon, England and vVales come tenth on the list, the highest percentages of suicides being possessed by Saxony, Denmark, and Switzerland. The figures for 1906 will not be available for another month, but although they show a slight decrease on those of last year, the decrease is so small as not to affect the percentage. In the tables kept by the Registrar-General some interesting information is afforded as to the varying means adopted by suicides for ending their lives, it being noticeable that the women (whose proportion of suicides is less than half that of men) generally choose the gentler methods of poisoning, drowning, and suffocation, whereas a large proportion of male suicides adopt more violent methods. In 1905, when 2,683 men and 862 women took their lives in England anu Wales, the two sexes adopted the following means, *n the proportion shown: — Men — Suffocation (hanging) 797, weapons and implements 681, drowning 514, poisoning 440, vehicles of all kinds 124, jumping from heights 54, burns and explosions 3, other means not/ stated 70. Total 2,683. Women — Drowning 285, poisoning 261, suffocation (hanging) 152, weapons and implements 84, jumping from heights 34, vehicles of all kinds 23, burns and explosions, etc. 6, other means not stated 17. Total 862.