CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 29 June 1911, Page 2

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

BISHOP CROSSLEY FAVOURS ITS ABOLITION. Referring to Tahi Kaka's last message on the brink of the grave. Dr. Crossley. Anglican Bishop of Auckland, said to'-day that all thoughtful people must realise the intense difficulty of the- subject. The" taking of human lif e was the deepest crime that could stain the life of a human being, and the sternest discipline of the law would have always to be exercised to express 'horror of the crime. The statement that the Bible authorised, nay, even dema.ndied the taking of a life for a life was true. It illustrated the elementary action of law, which was revenge : but those who sup ported the principe of capital punishment on Scriptural authority were wont to forget that the same Scriptures on the same principle of revenge demanded an eye for a neye and a tooth for a tooth". Even in the <_ld Testament the true executioner of vengeance was .recognised to be God Himself, for "vengeance is Mine," said the Lord.

"Now, on the execution of Kaka," ■added Dr. Crossley, the "Star" published two separate columns on the one page —the one he would like to describe as of infinite hope, the other of darkest gloom. The first column drew attention to the splendid advance New Zealand has made in its treatment of the criminal class, and the effort to .bring about reform, not merely by _ punishment. The other column contained the plainly told, but pitiful story of the 'hanging of the Maori boy Tahi Kaka. Punishment is an integral feature in reform, but many .minds have for many years challenged the existence of capital punishment as being a denial of the duty and possibility of reform. My own view for years past has been this : That the Incarnation of our Lord has ; lent a new sanctity to other human lives, and that the "followers, of His religion are bound to give new. weight to His message of mercy to wrong-doing mankind. Christ once saved the life of a woman :guilty under the law s of the period of a crime warranting death by saying, 'He that is without sin amongst you, let him first cast a stone at her,' and to the criminal his dismissal was, 'Go and sin no more.' " Dr. Crosslev then- went on to say that he would like to draw attention to the evolution which had gone on in England in regard to the,matter of capital punishment. The great legal authority, Blackstone. wrote that at one time in the middle of the 16th century there were no fewer than- 160 offenders awaiting punishment by death. It was a very ordinary occurrence for ten or twelve persons' to be hanged at a single execution, and for 40 to 50 to be condiemned to death at a single assize. In the same period women found guilty of murdering their husbands were publicly .burned bv"Ja\v. and this custom was not abolished till 1790. In the 18th century a solicitor forcibly complained that while everything else'had risen in its .nominal value and become dearer ,the life of man had continually grown cheaper. As Leckey said. "The enormous and '.undigested' multiplication of capital offences soon made the criminal code a mere sanguinary chaos." At that time to break a pane of 'glass -after 5 o'clock in the evening for the purpose of stealing something was punishable by death. "I .draw attention to these facts," said the Bishop, "in order to ask the people of New Zealand to realise the long way we have travelled since the 18th century. I shall indeed be amazed' if we do not now see the last and most enlightened step An progress made, and capital punishment for ever abolished from our Statute Book."—"Dominion" Auckland correspondent.