CRIME AND CRIMINALS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15210, 22 January 1910, Page 10

CRIME AND CRIMINALS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—ln a recent issue of your paper there appeared an account of the tactics of the Attorney-General, and, as usual, ho is stated to be discussing ways and means of curing the diunkard. To my mind he would be more profitably employed in discussing ways and means of altering the rotation of the earth, for all the practical achievements he can hope for. Let ns get at the root of the trouble and find out what produces such degenerates. I say, with strong conviction, that it is the bad economic conditions under which' the average man is working that are guilty of the production of the said degenerate. I am convinced with regard to this, hut for argument’s sake we will consider the case of, say, a man with two or three children, who during last winter was unable to secure employment., His position had grown so serious that the few valuables he may have secured had found their way to the pawnshop, and in spite of it all his innocent children come to him half-fed and only halfclothed. What can he do, seeing that he cannot secure the right to earn an existence? He goes and pawns the baby s shawl, and with the proceeds blinds himself to this said horror, and the chango is so refreshing that die gradually becomes addicted to drink. Is that not an example of the bad conditions under which we live P But that is not all, for our muchadvanced politicians also claim- the power to reform the thief. This kind of degenerate, in my mind, also springs from the economic conditions to which he is subjected, but in the face of all tins our Attorney-General clings tight to the bad policies of our forefathers, and will persist in advocating the svstem which is responsible for the existence of not only the two classes of criminals in question, but also of murderers. AAhy does Dr Findlay not devote his energies to the overthrow of the capitalist system, after seeing what injurious effects it has on the commiimty ? But as long as the general public are content to have their money wasted in maintaining these palliatives so long will they exist and so long wilj we be subjected to all our bluff legislation. Hoping to see the AttorneyGeneral on the revolutionary side in the near future.—l am, etc., H. L.’WASHER,