THE AMOKURA INQUIRY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1801, 14 July 1913, Page 6

THE AMOKURA INQUIRY.

TnE report on tho Amokura inquiry which was laid on the table of the House of Representatives on Friday should definitely put an end to any uneasiness that may have been calised by tho allegations that tho boys on the training ship were often brutally flogged, and other adverse criticism regarding the control of tho vessol. It should also enable the public to estimate at its true value tho effort made by certain Opposition papers to manufacture artificial indignation in this connection with the object of in somo way discrediting the Government. Of course, even if the charges had been proved the present Government would have been in no way to' blame, for the Amokura had simply been token over as a going conoern from tho previous Administration, the present system of ' oontrol having been in existence sine© 1907. But there are some critics who, in the absence of material on which to base a legitimate attack, soizo recklessly upon any sort of ammunition to fire at the Reform Ministry. Tho inquiry has disclosed that some boys navo been severely punished, but that it is an exaggeration to say that they have been "mercilessly flogged." The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher explained the wholo matter in the frankest manner on Friday, and Me. Young, tho member wno first applied for the inquiry, said ho was perfectly satisfied that the imatter had been fairly investigated, and that the charges had broken down. As a result of the inquiry a change has been made in tho method of inflicting corporal punishment, s cano being used in tho place of a rope's end, and the thrashing being administered in the : captain's cabin instead of before the other boys. Commander Hooper, however, contends that tho new method has not .improved matterß, and that tho conduct of tho boys has not been so good as formerly; but perhaps it is rather too soon' to speak with confidence on this point. Tho inquiry itself must havo had an unsettling effect upon the lads, and time would bo required to restore the normal discipline of tho ship. There are some people who regard all corporal punishment as brutal, and who expect those in authority to maintain discipline after depriving them of effective means of doing so. This hysterical, mawkish sympathy for those' who are not entitled to it is exercising an evil influence in the community. 'The uncontrolled youth soon becomes un-. controllablo ; and later on he is liable to be a nuisance to himself, to his neighbours, and to tho State. Unless young people are placed under some sort of rational discipline, and taught to respect authority in the home, tho school, and similar institutions, it is not reasonable to expect that they will grow up into useful, law-abiding citizens.