INFANTICIDE. — A NEEDED LEGISLATIVE REFORM.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 114, 15 May 1888, Page 4

INFANTICIDE. — A NEEDED LEGISLATIVE REFORM.

The city of Sydney maintains its most unenviable reputation for cases of child murder. A cable message which w 0 publish to-day states that " during tho past few days several cases of infanticide have occurred, but no arrests have yet been made." This is a message that comes with startling frequency from Sydney. The Slaughter of the Innocents goes on thero almost without intermission, and constitutes^ a terrible blot upon the morality and humanity of the mother colony of Australia. And the significant addendum, "no arrests made," follows each record of murder almost as a matter of course. A notable exception occurred in the case which we report at length in another column of this issue. That case discloses a depth of wickedness on tho part of tho accused —a young man—which we should hopo is of raro occurrence, even in Sydney, for he was shown to have made a deliberate attempt to fix tho guilt upon an innocent person. But the leading feature of the case is tho unique verdict of the jury, based upon a law which has been introduced in New South Wales, making the male seducer liable to prosecution for concealment of birth.

Now, whilo our legislators are in session, it is well that their attention .should be called to the desirability of having a similar provision made in tho law of this colony. Not that the crime of infanticide is at all of frequent occurrence, so as to call for drastic legislation, but simply as a measure of even - handed justice. Nearly every reader will, we fancy, be able to recall to mind cases in which unfortunate mothers who, maddened by shame and despair, terminated the existence of their helpless offspring, have been severely dealt with, while tho male partners in their guilt, whose heartless deceit and desertion were the direct cause of the unnatural crime, escaped the lash of tho law, and were not oven subjected to public exposure and censure. If we wish to save New Zealand from the foul taint of this crime, our laws should be so framed as to strike at the male offender, as well as at tho mother, who is often more sinned against than sinning.