The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1876.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 62, 3 July 1876, Page 2

The Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1876.

Those persons who have noticed the police reports of late, both in Oainaru and other parts of the Colony, cannot help being struck with the alarming increase of indecent assault cases which have occupied the attention of the Police Courts. Unfortunately, Oainaru is no exception to the rule, and within the last four mouths we have had no less than three cases. This points to a very undesirable state of things; in fact, unless some very stringent measures are used, and the offenders, when caught, punished with the utmost severity the law will permit, it will soon become unsafe for an unprotected female to walk out on the main roads after dark. The last case which came under our notice was that of the man Thomas* Godfrey, who on Saturday was sentenced to six months* hard labour for an aggravated assault on a little girl fourteen years of age. This villain was convicted on the evidence of the informant, but that evidence was given in such a clear and straightforward manner that every. word bore with it the impress of truth. Of course there are to be found those who will argue that Godfrey was found guilty on the unsupported evidence of a little girl, ! and it is quite possible she might have been mistaken in her recognition of the accused. Tins, of course, is reasonable enough, but the accused had every opportunity afforded him of proving an alibi, and if he had been an innocent man of disproving the informant's statements, but this he never attempted to do. His whole conduct and bearing throughout the hearing of the case was that of a guilty person. We should not have alluded so particularly to Godfrey':* case had not certain ugly rumors reached our ears, to the effect that the 1 right man had not been arrested for this assault. For our own part, we have no doubt that Godfrey committed the offence he was charged with, and the enquiries we have made since the prisoner was sentenced bear us out in our belief. It is not so much with one individual case that we

have to deal; it is "with the increase of this particular crime throughout the Colony.' It is only a few months ago that. Auckland was startled with a most dastardly attempt at rape by two men on a defenceless woman; then we hear from New Plymouth, that a woman there, seventy-five years of age, had been indecently assaulted by a sailor named Bessy. In this case the scoundrel was sentenced in a way which should act as a warning to othera. Fifteen years' penal servitude and one hundred and fifty lashes. Now this is the sort of punishment we should like to see inflicted on all these sensual nightprowlers. For climes of this description there is really nothing so effectual as the lash. It is only the cat-o'-nine-tails that will appeal at all to the feelings of men who are capable of committing crimes like Bessy's. Hard labor to these fellows is mere pleasure, in fact, the present system of- gaol management is now so refined, and carried out with such a humane tendency, that a short period in one of Her Majesty's gaols is really quite a relief from the ordinary worry of every-day life. The thought of having to receive one hundred and fifty lashes is not pleasant, but the actual whipping has ac'salutary effect not easily forgotten. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Bench will not fail to order the lash whenever cases like Bessy's and Godfrey's come before it. We know it is a very difficult matter to bring the crime home to the offender, because, as a rule, the only witness to the offence is the person assaulted, but where the evidence is conclusive, by all means let the lash be added to the term of imprisonment. It is only by treating these scoundrels as brutes, and thrashing them as such, that we can hope to put down a crime which, we regret to say, is becoming too common.