A REFORM WANTED THIS SESSION.

Mt Benger Mail, 18 March 1914, Page 1

A REFORM WANTED THIS SESSION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—One cannot help being alarmed by the number of assaults on women, and especially young female childron, which are constantly being recorded in our newspapers. Jn Wellington, recently, 1 noticed thai at the Supteme Court there were four separate cases of indecent assault on childi en ; the ages of these little girl victims (one was just out of babyhood) were 4$ years, 6 years, 11 years and 13 years. Their assailants were convicted and sent to gaol; butthey will all be free men in about six years' time ; one of the men had been convicted before of the same offence, his second victim being the little girl aged 4£ years ; and this man will bo free again ! in a splendid country like ours, populated i>y a superior olass oi people, and noted for its advanced legislation. the increase in the nunnber oi these assaults is a bad feature, and a lellection on our laws for the protection ot womanhood, and « future motherhood. Without a doubt our laws for their protection are obsolete when compared with '.he laws of other countries; e\en the English law is in advance oi aurs.

advance of ours. In certain States in America, Australia, and South Africa Urud it is also recorded in the laws of Moses) the punibhment for indecent assault on females is tin; death penalty. lie of Nazareth also seems to havo inferred that th« penalty ior offending children was death.

ll the severity (J f ihu luws iu tie above named countries is causing the scum of their population to drift to New Zealand it is plainly our duty to place our laws for these uses on a par with the laws of those com rles by urging our legislators to mate the death penalty the punishment ior these horrible, minima* and unnatural assaults which were commented on in our Parliament a few years back. It is said that children assaulted are physically, and in some eases nent ally, ruined ior life, apart iun 'their innocence being blighted, >... d peihaps left with a loathsome disease. Then there are many cases oi assa.ilt reported,! as the victims' p- rents, through family pride, shrink tro:n publicity and police court proceedings. In one Now Zealand city 1 am told a mission Sister who keeps a Hay. school for littlG children had to cet thejolice to order away low fellows vho tame round with lollies vhen the t-cbi'ol came out.

Long sentences harden prisoners ; flogging is a dead letter, owing to "health reasons." Abolish the dtath sentence for murder, if you wish, as it was abolished for robbery ; but those crimes are not on the same plane as brutal attacks by these human ghouls on defenceless children of the poorer classes, who are li-red away with a few lollies. Womanhood was not safe in N.S. Wales until capital punishment was brought in. During the South African war capital punishment prevailed. Juries on these cases would perform a real benefit if they recommen led erpital punishment to be placed on the Statute book, because a brutal crime deserves brutal punishment. When visitimg America recently 1 enquired if there w ere many of these as* I'llts recorded, and 1 was informed that such cases were rare. Should the Government refuse to consent to the death penalty for such criminals they should at least be declared habitual criminals—Yours, kc., A NEW ZLALANULR. March 9, 1914.