PUNISHMENT WITHOUT TRIAL
(To the Editor.) Sir, —I have pondered over the Welfare1 League's reply to myshorb letter, and fail to find a real answer to my query; as to the instruction I should give my children, ' relative to their pride in British liberty, in the light of the Sam oan deportations;' without trial.. ,;The Welfare League avers ;. that "deportation" is not "punishment," but protection of those left behind. In the same way I suppose the burglar who getg seven years is not punished, but the free citizens are protected. It is a very, fine point, but my dictionary says "de- ' portatibn" means £xile, .banishment, and "banishment" means "expulsion from: one's native country." This,, sounds, se-'. vere, even if the Welfare League does not;, feel it. Maybe the deportees like it— ;• suffer the. sacrifice gladly as patriots—but :' it would certainly disturb my equanimity if it happened to me, and it is from this v! angle that I must ask my children to look';' at it. It, is stupid, or obtuse, of. the .■.'' Welfare League to claim that we have'not.".''■come down to the level of Samoans by. ' copying their (alleged) bad custom. We,'.;.patriotically proclaim our standard of citizen liberty as the highest in the world, f yet the Welfare League's pride is «uch an ; ephemeral thing that it can be proud on our account, and also proud of the denial : \) of this standard to Samoans at the same time. ' ■•.' . ;. :. .. ■. ■-...'■ As to the practice of deporting having the sanction of the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, this power is not vested in the New. Zealand Adminis-: • trator, but in the "Chief of the Competent Branch Bureau,' after obtaining the sanction of the Director of the South Seas Bureau.": Presumably this sanction would , net be given for the asking, butonly after full investigation (trial) had been made.. Liberty is a very great thing, and in this particular case one can only assume the Welfare League is either asleep, or is not running true to its high-sounding name.-— ;. I am, etc.; : . ■ NEW. ZEALAND-BORN.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 65, 17 March 1928, Page 8
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341PUNISHMENT WITHOUT TRIAL Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 65, 17 March 1928, Page 8
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