"A System of Revenge."

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 69, 5 July 1912, Page 8

"A System of Revenge."

Yes; that Auckland Bishop spoke truth who declared that our system of criminal punishment >wns "a system of revenge." it was Rishop Crossley who said so, was it not? And was it not this churchman,- too, who made snch a pother in ultra-Protestant circles by his subsequent sermon in defence and advocacy of "prayers tor ihe dead?"

"Prayers for the dead!" Well, why not? The living—the good and the bad—the just and the unjust—the wrong and the right--1 In- Christian and the Unbeliever—it would almost seem, are past praying for. Our cruel civilisation has made- them so. Our so-called criminals commie what we, in our smug complacency, are pleased to designate "crimes against Society," and Society in turn--! he allegedly law-abiding seclion of tin- community—-the Respectable and the Ond-i't iring—the upholders of Law and Order—the idolaters of Aulhoihy, V-sled interests, and the Saced Kight.-. of — revenges itself b\ iiiiliciing barbarities on and committing crimes against the wrongdoers thai are moiiuim nfitl in eompari-

stin with tlie offences of these unfortunates. Society makes the crime and the criminal, and then makes itself a thousandfold, greater criminal by its devilish, diabolical punishment of him that has trespassed against Society's canons of Right and Wrong. "An eye for an eye, a tooth, for a tooth," says the Mosaic law; but that would never appease the hideous harridan of modern days who poses and personates in tho spotless robes of even-handed Justice.

Yes; our penal system is a "system of revenge"—our judiciary and jails but tlw instruments of our vengeance. Bishop Crossloy testified truly; and if further corroboration bo needed, we Have that o»f Mr. Edwin Arnold, visiting justice to H.M. Jail, Wellington. Writing to the Auckland "Observer"

recently, Mr. Arnold said: "I havo seen a number of poor, mentally weak wretches flogged—the jtidges believed it would alter their course- of lifo. I think any flogging ordered in tho future should be witnessed by tho judge who ordered the brutal treatment. And when ho had seen a mental weakling died up to tho whipping post and flogged until the blood from the cutting lash ran down his sides, he would say there was better treatment for the dogenerate. If I were to tell you of the sights I have witnessed; if I could properly convey them to the people's imagination in printer's ink, 1 think tlier* would be no mOro flagging ordered."

That is terrible enough, and yet— "the half has ne'er been told." One would need the pen of a Zola to aclo(piately convey to the people the horrors of the sights Mr. Arnold has wit> nessed. Mr. Arnold is no Zola, bilfe reading his words it needs very little effort of tho imagination to picture ia one's mind's eye the awful barbarities that aro perpetrated in the name of Justice. And tho papers in this country—in this city Of Wellington—which shrieked and hdwded in hypocritical lidrror because Trtjs Worker had tho courage to hold up the heroic figure of Canton as worthy of all emulation, and hi* soul-stirring advice td "dare, and ia dare, and again to dare," as being as grandly applicable to-day as when uttered—these papers in our midst condone th'.s debasing treatment of alleged criminals and remain silent in acquiescence. Thoy aro not moved to outbursts of fury against tho monstrous system of judicial crime; there is not a "dare" in any one of them against the fiendish practices of the ogre of tho Law at whose shrine they worship so devoutly. Even the parad© through tho city streets of the prisoners, unshaven and convict-clothed, and attended by armed guards, -which is one of the least of the brutalities of an inhuman system, raises not the humblest word of protest, though such a spectacle, alas! is only too frequently seen, and is a sight that is painful and pitiful in the extreme/ to even the most callous and case-hardened citizen. No; there ia not a "dare" in any of them. Out Upon them for a pack of hypocrites!