NEWSPAPER SUPPORTS PLEA FOR REVISION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18958, 2 January 1930, Page 11

NEWSPAPER SUPPORTS PLEA FOR REVISION.

(Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, January 2. In an editorial to-day’s “Star” says: “It is to be hoped that the arguments advanced in the statement issued by the Auckland telegraph staff dealing with the recent dismisals will be carefully considered by the Department and the Minister. “Among other things it it pointed out, with great force, that as the Department supplies telephones to bookmakers and accepts betting telegrams, it is hardly in a position to maintain that any breach of the regulation involving gambling or betting is an offence of a particularly heinous nature, but the strongest feature of this protest is its appeal for leniency on behalf of the dismissed men. As we have already said, there is a regular scale of punishments provided by the regulations for various breaches of discipline, and there seems to be no sound reason for resorting in these cases to the extreme penalty. As the protest puts it, they could not have been more severely dealt with if they had been actual criminals. Apart from any other consideration, the long service of these men, their good records, and, above all, the desperate position in which they and their dependents must, in some instances, be placed, should carry weight with the official heads of the Department, and will, in our opinion, amply justify a revision of these unduly severe sentences.”