SANDY'S CORNER

Wanganui Chronicle, 8 June 1948, Page 4

SANDY'S CORNER

fflinilillliililiillllllllllilliiillliiillili'ilitlllllllillllillillllllWllllllllllillllßUliDinillllllWlliUlllliLiß TARANAKI ‘INVASION” Sunday morning theme song in Sei. wyn Street is not "Open tne Door, Richard,” but "Close the Gate, Sidney." It was one of those calm winter Sunuay mornings wnen a veritable "Taranaki invasion ’ swept through, Selwyn Street—a mob of rather fresh steers. All the Se,wyn gates were open, but the cattle picked on “Sid’s,” and lett behind them all the distinguishing marks of a real Taranaki thundering herd—marks on lawn and garden and round trees. The fact that the garden will prooably benefit from cowyard manure is poor compensation for the hoof marks and other damage. Was it our imagination, or was it a fact, that we heard a sweet voice from Selwyn Street singing, “Close the Gate, Sidney,” adapteu from a tamous song with! Richard as the hero? TO HANG OR NOT TO HANG! I It would be ironical, wouldn’t itif the Government of Britain went down under a controversy as to whether murderers should hang on not? The way things are shaping it realy looks as though our facetious remark that the hanging committea of the Sarjeant Gallery should give the Government advice on the subject, is bearing fruit. It is thought that there will be a compromise as to the death penalty—that it will be restor. ed, but that tlie Home Secretary will decide whether or not the condemned are to hang. That would place him in exactly the same position as tlie gallery hanging committee. "Do we hang this, or don’t we?" is an eternal question so far as that committee is concerned. But the strange thing to note about it is that a Home Secretary who became ruthless and said “hang everything" would probably be hounded out of his job. It would be a bad show. But if a gallery committee said “hang everything" they would make a bad show, too. This is a subject to which there must be a most judicious approach —both by Home Secretaries and Gallery Committees. Both must be humane, yet both must have the ends of justice and the welfare of tlie nubile at heart. Personally, we’re hanged if we knowl