The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1896. CORPORAL PUNISHMEN IN SCHOOLS.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 265, 14 May 1896, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1896. CORPORAL PUNISHMEN IN SCHOOLS.

It is not so many year 3 ago that flogging in both the army and the navy w*.-> u,n article of faith of the highest mi' itary ana naval authorities. Their f e < Lings and prejudices were so much in favor of this brutal mode of inflicting punishment for even the most trifling offences against discipline, that when its existence was threatened they prophesied both herviota would be absolutely rained, for by taking away the " fear of the cat o' nine tails " all control over the men would bo lost. Notwithstanding their emphatic— nay, almost weeping — protests the better sense of the representatives ot the nation in Parliament prevailed, aud the lash was abolished for evir. Much to the disappointment of its advocates and admirers—who, by the way, were themselves exempted from that mode of punishment — the condition of both services lias vastly improved instead of deteriorated, and, a;j regards both discipline and efficiency t'.iey never stood higher than they do at the present day. Having seen the benefits of doing away with corporal punishment in the cases of our soldiers and oor sailors, we, and many other people in the colony, would like to see it abolished as regards school children. The reason foe this is — that in tbis age cf enlightenment the custom should be obsolete. It is true that a certain very wibc'nizn, whose knowledge was great, but whose morality. w« tat

from being beyond question, said on one j memorable' occasion, " He thatspareth , the rod spoileth the child," and since ; that day many millions of unfortunate j youngsters have been submitted to cruel and degrading punishment simply because the saying gave an excuse for parents, guardians, or teachers, to vent \ their spleen on those weaker than them- { selves, and, therefore, unable to offer adequate resistance or defence. Lot i any of our readers recall his own experi- ■ ences and frankly own whether the un- j mercifnl floggings he received ever did the slightest good. One of the best schoolmasters in the English speaking world who had birched " his thousands and his tens of thousands," said that, after all, flogging hardened a brave boy, but made a liar aud a coward of a timid one. Who ever hears of Sunday School teachers arming themselves with a strap or cane while carrying ou their noble and gratuituous work among children ? Surely if they can control and govern the various tempers and dispositions of those who attend such schools b.y firmness and kindness, the masters and teachers in the State Schools can do the same. We think, therefore, that the practice of corporal punishment in schools should be abandoned at once with a good grace. The parents of children are, in the various centres of the colony, beginning to recent it, and it will be well for those who favor the practice to give way now, before they are forced to do so by legislation.