CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2127, 28 November 1868, Page 3

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

To the l-Aitor of the Otago Daily Times.

Si H —Forthe sake of civilised humanity, I trust that your columns will not spare condemnation of tho cruelties which have been exercised on one of the Volunteers in the North, less than they have stigmatised the revolting atrocities of the native rebels. It appears by one of tho late telegrams from Wellington, that a member of the Colonial force at Patea has received 25 lashes, for refusing to re-enlist after having served faithfully the term of his agreement with the Government authorities. Now, Sir, to my mind this is a resurrection of the base tyranny which ran rampant in both arms of the Naval and Military services some few years ago, and to which several philanthropic statesmen and a host of generous fellowcountrymen, lent all their energies to suppress. The Nelson School of naval oflicers is almost, if not now entirely extinct. Those of the Wellington school have shared a similar fate. The " Articles of War" have undergone, since their day, a careful revision, and in accordance with the present rules of tho two services, before a grating can to rigged on tho deck of an Imperial vessel, or a triangle raised in the barracks of a garrison, for the purpose of inflicting corporal punishment, tho highest authorities of the State have to be consulted ; and their decisions, for the last ten years at least, have been, except under the most aggravated circumstances of crime, to commute the sentences of Courts Martial as to corporal punishment, and hand over the culprit to tho civil authorities. This is actually tho case when well-established offences are brought before their notice. But how, I ask, if appealed to on the subject of the punishment inflicted on the soldier at-Patea, would they act, being made cognisant of the facts relating to his alleged crime 1 lam of opinion that their duties to humanity, justice, and tho offices they hold, would dictate a course for them to pursue, by which the Court Martial's decision to which I have alluded, and the responsible officer to whom tho carrying out of its sentence devolved, would put an effectual stop to a second occurrence of so dastardly an action, and so gross an infringement upon tho rights of the soldier and the dignity of his highest rulers. By inserting this you will oblige, yours, &c., Onb who has Skkved.