CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1162, 24 June 1911, Page 4

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.

BISHOP CROSSLEY FAVOURS ITS ABOLITION.

(By Tclecraph.-SDccial Correspondent.! Auckland, Juno 23. Referring to Tahi Kaka's last message on tho brink of the grave, Dr. Crossley. Anglican Bishop of Auckland, said to-day that all thoughtful people must realise tho intense ditlicuLty of tho subject. Tho taking of human life was the deepest crime tliat could stain the life of a human being, and tho sternest discipline of the law would have to always bo exercised to express horror of tho crime. Tho statement that the Bible authorised, nay, even demanded the taking of a lifo for a life was true. It illustrated tho elementary action of law, which was revenge; but those who supported tho principle of capital punishment on Scriptural authority were wont to forget that the same Scriptures on tho saino principle of revenge demanded an eye for an cvo and a tooth for n tooth. Even iu tho Old Testament the true executioner of vengcanoo was recognised to bo God Himself, ','.%. vengeance the Lord. Now; on the execution of Kaka," added Dr. Crossley, "the 'St;|r' published two separate columns on tho one page—the ono I would 'like to describe as of' infinite hope, the other of darkest gloom. Tho first column drew attention to'the splendid advance Now Zealand has made in us treatment of tho criminal class, and tho effort to bring about reform, not merely by punishment. Tho other column contained tho plainly told, but pitiful m, ? r t,M> mm K'"S of the Maori bov lain Kaka Punishment is an integral feature in reform, but main- minds have for many years challenged 'the existence ot capital punishment as being a denial of tho duty and possibility of reform. My own view for--years past has been tins: That the Incarnation of our Lord has lent a new sanctity to other human lives, and that tho followers of His religion are bound to give new weight to His message of mercy to wrong-doing mankind. Christ once,saved tho life of a woman guilty under'tho lows of tho period of a crhio warranting death by saying, Tie that is without sin amongst you, let !i. ; m first cas: a stono at her,' and to tho criminal his dismissal was, bo and sin no more.'"

Br. Grosslcy thou' went on bi say that ho would liko to draw attention to tho evolution whbh had gone on in England in regard to tho matter of capital punishment. That great legal authority, Blaclcstono, wrote that at one time in tho middle of the lGth century there were no fewer than 100 offenders awaiting punishment by death. It was <i very ordinary occurrence for ten or twelve persons to bo hanged at a single execution, and for •10 to 50 to bo condemned to death at a single assize. In tho same period women found guilty of murdering their husbands wco publicly burned by law, and this custom was not abclisheil till 1790. In the ]Sth century a solicitor forcibly complained that wliilo everything else had risen in its nominal value and become dearer, tho liio of man had continually grown cheaper. As Leckcy said, "Tho enormous and undigested multiplication of capital offences soon made tho criminal codo a mere sanguinary chaos." At that time to bveak a prno of glas3 after 5 o'clock in the evening for tho purpose of stealing something was punishable by death.

"I draw attention to theso facts," said the Bishop, "in order to ask the peopln of New Zealand to rcaliso tho long way wo have travelled sinco tho 18th century. I shall indeed be amazed if we do not now see tho last and most enlightened step in progress male, and capital pinishment for ever abolished from our Statute Book.