BILL FOR CARRYING OUT EXECUTIONS IN PRISONS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 382, 4 June 1866, Page 2

BILL FOR CARRYING OUT EXECUTIONS IN PRISONS.

House of Commons, Tuesday, March 6. Mr Hibbert asked leave to bring in a bill to permit capital punishments to be carried out, under certain regulations, within the interior of prisons. lie said be would have been glad to have left this important subject to be dealt with by the Government had they shown any intention of doing so. He desired that the object which his bill sought should be attained as quickly as possible, because most unseemly and disgraceful scenes were the accompaniments of public executions, A large section of the Press of the country was in favor of having a change in the existing law. Public executions bad not the effect of deterring people from the commission of capital crimes, and, this being the case, one of the arguments in their favor was done away with. His own view of the matter had been supported by no less than fourteen or fifteen witnesses, who had given evidence before the commission on capital punishments. An Act similar to the one he washed Parliament to approve was, moreover, in operation in no less than five of the Australian colonies, and had been found to work fairly and successfully. Sir G. Grey stated that the Government had received information from the colonies in regard to the working of the system referred to by his hon. friend. (Hear, hear.) The commission had recommended the adoption of that principle, subject to certain regulations, and Government had prepared a bill which they had carefully considered. This bill proposed to give effect to the recommendations of the commission, and it was now in course of being revised previous to being introduced. It would be better to attend to the recommendations of the commission as a whole than to deal with the one point only referred to in the bill. When the hon. gentleman saw T the bill of the Government, he would find that it accomplished his views with regard to carrying into effect executions within the walls of the gaols. As a leading member of the commission was a member of the other House, the bill would probably be introduced there, uud, after being carefully considered, would come down, when more attention could be

given to it than at present. He should be happy to seo the bill of the hon. member, and therefore would offer no opposition to the introduction; but he hoped the second reading would not be pressed until the wholesubject could be brought before the House, Mr Gilpin entertained the opinion that strangling human beings for the purpose of illustrating the sacredness and the value of human life was a miserable bungle. If executions were made private, the strong argument of moral example urged by the advocates of capital punishment would be taken away. What au enlightened public opinion required—and would eventually obtain—was, the total abolition of capital punishment.

Mr W. Ewart took a similar view. Mr B. Carter wished to correct the impression that the bill suggested private executions. The object was to remove from executions the exhibition of torture, which had been struck out of ail other penal punishments in England long since. The bill of his hon. friend, if introduced, w’ould provide a remedy at once for the objectionable system of public executions, in event of the Government bill not being brought before the House time enough to pass during the present session. The motion was then agreed to.