The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1910.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10561, 16 September 1910, Page 3

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1910.

Til 10RK was a good deal of what we cannot help regarding as Tobacco and unsympathetic cntiProbation. cism in the discussion of the Cr Bill in the Mouse ol' Hepresentat ives. Wo allude to the remarks made by some of the speakers about a recent decision of the Chiel Justice. Sir Robert had ".stipulated in a probation case that tlie probationer should stop his tobacco a.s well as his liquor. I heso critics Inund tlie decision very Ininl. declared il imjihsiiiiaMc, :uid asked what could we expect Inn disappointment if we placed in the hands ol such men tlie strong power proposed by tlie Crimes Hill. This is indeed an unhappy choice ol illu.stration. 1! is ol coiuse hard on the smoker to he deprived "I tobacco, as hard as it is on the dipsomaniac to be deprived ol liquor, lint the object of both deprivations is the building up of tin 1 will power without which there can be no reiorni. Ihe fundamental consideration in all matters of personal reiorni is iliat relorm and self-denial must go hand in hand. If the will is not trained to obedience there will be no reiorni. Now the cigarette is a demoralising influence as every authority declares. Moreover in early manhood its power lor evil is often at its highest. No doubt the Chief' .Justice had in i his case some report before him lo the ellecl that the applicant for probation was addielcd to the inordinate use ol tobacco. Otherwi.se. he would not have dreamed ol saying anything about tobacco in his order. That, this should lie remembered the Chief .lustier' has a right lo expect from the public in general and the representatives of the people in particular. hi the second place the probationer is being let oil a serious penally. That eoiir.se is extended to him in the merciful hope thai, lie may use the concession for his moral rehabilitation. What more powerlul means ol rehabilitation than the practice ol sell-control, not in those matters lo which one has no mind but in those to which one is most inclined!-' Whatever hardship there may be ought, lo lie balanced by the fact that a much graver hardship, the hardship of association with criminals ill hideous and disgrace! ill siiprouildings has been removed. .Moreover all sense of hardship will pass away in a short time a.s every smoker knows who litis over had to do .without his favorite weed for a lime. There is 100 much of this sentimental grieving over the minor hardships :ii persons who ought to bear some hardship, and lor whom hardship is .salutary in the extreme. Let us try and remember that young gentlemen who qualily lor probation are neither heroes to lie admired nor victims of undeserved misl'ortune.to be solaced with abundance ol creature comforts. 'I hey are vicious because of their lack ol sell-control. Anything that will help them lo acquire that useful necessary and most salutary habit ought to he welcomed, not decried. It may lie that it is impossible for the Chief's decision against, tobacco to be enforced: as for example who shall say that the young man does not smoke ill bed 'i While it is clear that policemen can not be on guard over him day and night. Hut even so the prohibition, provided the probationer is of good will —and that is the essence ol the ease every time—becomes a valuable aid of relorm. All this fuss about a degenerate and his pipe is very really I silly.