USE OF THE BIRCH.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 152, 28 June 1924, Page 13

USE OF THE BIRCH.

(To the Editor.) j Sir, —In a recent issue of the "Star," i "Citizen" makes an attack on one of our • magistrates .who has had the hardihood and good sense to order thrashings to erring boys. He goes further, and, without knowing the circumstances, announces the correct amount of punishment suitable for the occasion. He refers to the proceedings as being "martinet conduct, repulsive to the more civi- , lised and humane amongst us." The | more civilised and humane section has really been resuonsible for the vast ma- j jority of juvenile offenders, by not having the moral courage to punish youths under their care for misdemeanours. It has been my experience that very few healthy boys grow up without doing something which well merits a good hiding. If the .parents won't do it. it j has to be done at school. If the school- ■ master has not sufficient hardihood to do bis dut3', sooner or later it falls to | the lot of the State to" have to do it in order to protect society, and the longer it is delayed the more pressing I the need for it becomes. A sound i thrashing which was deserved never did any boy harm, and the abolition of the rod by" amateur psychologists is doing incalculable harm to our growing boyhood. Why, within this last three months, a master in one of our city secondary schools was openly defied by a pupil, and went unpunished; rumour has it that since the pupils have come to hear that the use of the rod is not favoured, discipline is a thing of the past. It is all very well for "Citizen" to criticise a public official for doing his duty ably and conscientiously, but some of us old-fashioned folk- feel that we are indeed fortunate in having with us men of integrity, who hold their positions because of their experience and knowledge of human nature, and who will fearlessly and impartially administer justice to all sections of the community in the interest of all, no mat- | ter bow repulsive it "may be to any one section.—l am, etc., FATHER OF A FAMILY.