PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21356, 26 February 1941, Page 7

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents whose letters are welcome, but for whoso views we have no responsibility. Correspondents are requested to write in ink. It is essential that anonymous writers enclose their proper names a? a guarantee of good faith. Unles6 this rule is complied with, their letters will not appear. POLITICAL SENTIMENTS (To the Editor) Sir,—l am sorry that somebody calling himself “Shrewdie” got himself so flustered about my sentiments. 1 have always trusted God, and I have more to show for it than “Shrewdie” knows anything about. I make no apologies to “Shrewdie.” What is he hiding away for? It does not speak much for his character, throwing stones at me from his dugout. Should not a man like “Shrewdie,” who can get on without God, be brave enough to stand in the open? Those of our party who are trusting God and seeking Divine aid will get the others through. We must not forget to put Almighty God first in all things.—l am, etc., TERESA E. MAGNER. Hamilton, February 25 SALVAGE OF METALS (To the Editor) Sir, —Some time ago a campaign to salvage certain metals was commenced, and the Whangarei Borough Council caused to be placed in the two main streets two bins for the reception of the metals. The receptables are about 3 feet high and 2 feet by 2 feet. The metals required are named on the side of the bin. The town clerk assured me that the innovation is quite successful, and apart from the utility of the idea, it serves to keep the need before the public. It occurred to me that we in Hamilton could, with profit to the war effort, adopt the scheme.—l am, etc., A.E.I. Hamilton, February 25. THE ROGUE OF HUMANITY (To the Editor) Sir, —Among elephants we find certain animals which will not mix with the herds. They are the rogues of the tribe and extermination is the only solution to the problem. In civilised society we separate this kind of people and either flog them or execute them as a menace to the community. The history of Germany has been the same throughout all ages. The very name signifies “fighters and brawlers.” Caesar stated that “they lie waste and depopulate; their argument for valour is in expelling their neighbours and suffer none to settle near them.” It is from the German devastation of Gaul that we obtain the word “vandal.” From 113 B.C. to 1939 A.D. the same tale is told. Theodoric in 493 A.D. speaks of the Germans who exercise “masterly efficiency” and “atrocious treachery.” The Great Elector, a Hohenzollern, had “no respect for Germany, nor conception of Europe or humanity.” He lived for Brandenburg and Prussia. In recent years in Germany the labour camps were drill parades; the sports associations were agencies for rifle shooting; the Hitler Youth movement produced grenade throwing. There is only one solution for world peace, and that is the extermination of the rogue race.—l am, etc., HISTORICUS. Hamilton, February 25. FLOGGING “TRADITION” (To the Editor) Sir, —Traditions come and go, but the gentle practice of flogging loses none of its peculiar charm and one might add its gusto. Perhaps it may be as well; we have been growing decadent of late years; too kindly, too tolerant, too dispassionate. Hitler said so, and he should know. Has he not, in a score of delectable little ways, asserted the virility of a strong, unflinching people, by gently facilitating the robust change from kindness to “firmness”?

“Virility,” he screamed in an epoch-making speech, “is shown only by savage brutality, by impudent injustice and lustful rancour. . . Be strong! German people, never allow your sense of duty to be swayed by maudlin mercy; no, nor by the horrified protests of the rest of the world. Strong in the knowledge of our own God-like moral superiority and integrity, we stand by our decisions in the calm assumption that posterity will pass a fitting judgment. . .” Such force! Such expletive! But what is this evil thing we hear from the pen of a distinguished psychiatrist:— “The manifestations of sadism, as shown in the now fortunately obsolete mania for flogging, are always strongest in males of a markedly feminine psychoneurotic tendency.” Well, apart from the embarrassment caused to our little thunder-god, the psychiatrist ought to brush up on his newspaper reading. Of course, like all harmless recreations, flogging is just an old Spanish custom to which we cling, no doubt, because of its historical associations —a sentimental reminder of a happy childhood, and all that. It would be interesting to analyse the feelings of the flogger. No doubt they would be rather embarrassing. As for the floggee, serve him right if he couldn’t take a joke.—l am, etc., H.S. Hamilton, February 25. FLOGGING (To the Editor) Sir, —It may be of interest to your readers to learn that in England a departmental committee on corporal punishment reported unanimously that corporal punishment fails to operate as a deterrent and therefore serves no useful purpose. It may also be useful to quote here one paragraph from the report:— “Strong views are often expressed both for and against corporal punishment by persons who have no special knowledge of ex-prisoners or the treatment of crime and base their opinions purely on a priori assumptions. Even among those who have had practical experience in dealing with offenders, there are some who have approached the problem of corporal puniijhment with preconceived opinions or a strong personal bias which has coloured the views which

they believe themselves to have formed purely on the basis of theii experience.” „ , .. Watson in his book Meet the Prisoner” says, “If the reader ''V 1 study the report—and until he has done so he is not qualified to express any opinion on this question—he cannot fail to be struck by th .® live nature of the eomm ‘ tle D e "" vestigation with a view to proving or disproving this theory (the the ory of deterrence). The limits of a letter preclu full discussion of the doctune o pora? punishment, but the report ot bl C r^«^^ar e SSSSSS? protest* to^the N-Z. HOWARD LEAGUE r FOR rm _