The Death Penalty.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20361, 19 July 1934, Page 8

The Death Penalty.

Dear Sir,—l will be greatly surprised if the prison authorities let Bayly see the ridiculous letter sent to him by the Free Religious Movement, for to a condemned man :t would be pure cant, apart from the fact that it solemnly labels him as a murderer, which he has never admitted, by dissociating itself from the practice of “ avenging one murder with another.” And as for saying that the cross of the.se writers is far heavier than that which Bayly has had imposed on him (or has imposed on himthis is sheer nonsense, and I am surprised at intelligent men putting their names to it. And of what interest will it be to Bayly to know that these enthusiasts categorically deny ” that the communitv has any moral right to take rwav his life? Ho himself may not rgree with that. Certainly I do not. I think he has l>een properly convicted, but .1 would not harrow h:s feelings with academic disquisitions on the justice of his fate. Aren't these, after ail, not intended for Bavlv, but for public consumption ?—I am, etc.,* A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING.