“The Long Arm of the Law”

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 57, 10 March 1944, Page 4

“The Long Arm of the Law”

Seldom lias the truth of the saying “The long arm of the law” been more perfectly exemplified than in the news from Sydney which told of the solving of the “Pyjama Girl Mystery.” Nine and a-half years ago the pyjama-clad body of a girl was found in a culvert on tbe border of New South Wales and Victoria World-wide inquiries were made to establish her identity and to trace the murderer, and the case naturally aroused world-wide interest. Now an arrest has been made due to the perseverance, relentless as fate itself, of a police force. A reminder is thus given evildoers that the Law does not forget and that it lias an arm so long that it still keeps reaching out when the culprit himself may have almost forgotten the crime ho committed years before. Tbe publicity now given to this case will be valuable, for surety of punishment is worth a 100-fold leniency of prison treatment. The supreme deterrent to evildoing is the risk of punishment. And the surer the likelihood of apprehension and the certainty of punishment, the more will that risk of being found Put weigh with the potential wrongdoer.