CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 188, 11 August 1941, Page 6

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

THOSE FLOGGINGS

(To the Editor)

The recent history 0 f the Ijw Government. notwithstandiM 1 ? humanitarian measures has ened one s sympathy and suniS" For instance, there is the <& given, by the powers that be tnV? iniquitous exploitation of th« m called Fair Rents Act by persrL quite affluent positions.' whom, piesumablv. it wa««Jr intended. There is also in thUfc of Empnv peril the stubborn ar.ee to any alteration of thVT hour week. Then there if t lamentable clinging to party SateS of a National Government its refusal to be hustled to e»L the heavy »entenee passed uiwn7v o young gaol-breakers I desiretn impress my admiration of the'XJmJ* merit's courage. Surely it is w British fairness to place beside £ condemnation of these youne for their serious wrong-doing T fact oi the love of liberty whirs lives eternally in the human brea? and the desire at all costs to obtain it. Ihe attitude of = first-class civilisation should fe towards the prison as a school and its sentences to be mrl dial rather than penal. Does nr criminal history show that to mai/l' brutality with legalised brutalrtvinot the way to lessen crime' VtZ retaliation and cruelty to men wS, fail to conform to received standi is certainly not Christlike Wh~ we should pray for. surelv, isaimw passion of justice amid the of men. and this clear sense of iusto will, we think, become as a liSto our proper" understandine * things. Justice should be meted am unclouded by the mists of preiudiw with its poisonous power to S forth fresh evils and produce "less cies of hate' - under which the Consent of Europe groans to-day A. S. WILSON. It is very interesting to note the . mere thought of flogging has on the average persons mind. The man? letters, condemning flogging whiti have appeared in the papers bear this out. The men concerned rights (deserved a flogging, or worse. Tht ringleader, who was a reprieved muri derer. should have had his origins j sentence carried out. the same as t J person who abuses his probation and that would hrve satisfied mo? (people. In the "Star" of Jufr 24 I read an account of a yoatj of tender years (17J years) whe took a doctor s car and ran r. Ito Rotorua. together with his bor I friend, and allegedly caused damagt to the car. some £22 10/. and tht magistrate told the father to give him a good hiding. I hope tht lad's father did not read aboir the ''floggings which were not carried out on the prisoners who brutally assaulted the warders." or if h had any love for his wayward sot he would have given him a real, nice fatherly lecture and got him fc promise to reform. JUSTICE FOR ALL