BRO. GARDNER ON THE LASH.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2666, 6 October 1881, Page 3

BRO. GARDNER ON THE LASH.

Bro. Gardner being asked at a meeting of the Limekiln Club if he had not in the past advocated the use of the whipping-post for petty offences, replied “ I did, an’ I do now, an’ I shall in de fuchur, onless de need of it pusses away. In do fust place does it degrade a man any rno’ to warm him up wid a raw-hide dun it does to put him in jail or sot him to poundin stone on de street ? In de nex’ place, kin a mean man be degraded ? In de las’ place, we am all awar’ dat not one petty offense in five am punished, bekase dc law doan’ tech it, or bekase it’s too much expense and trouble to prosecute. Sartin pussons make a hizness of loafin’. How many of ’em kin you convict of vagrancy ? Sartin pussons insult lone women ou de street. How many of ’em have eber been jailed ? Dar am a dozen oder Tenses dat the law don’t tackle, or if it docs dc Tenders git cl’ar. What punishment am it to a loafer to go to jail for a month. He gets plenty to eat an’ a good bed to sleep on, an’ gains five pounds of fat. If dat same man was tied up an’ thirty lashes laid agin his bar’ back he’d open his eyes pow’rful wide. Go on de ribber—go on de kyars—walk on de streets, an’ you fin’ de loafer. He pushes an’ crowds an’ abuses an’ insnlts. What kin you do wid him ? Make complaints an’ de law will play wid him an’ let him go. Let an officer give him a soun’ Hoggin’ and his hat would come down off his ear in no time. De whippin’-post may be bnrbous, but what do you call it when a loafer follers your wife ftew de streets? It may may he degradin’, but what do ye call it when three drunken loafers take possesshon of a ’scurshun boat and knock men down an’ frighten women half to death. Take a tramp, a loafer, a drunkard or a petty thief, tie him to a whippin’-post an’ play a raw hide on his back fur fire minutes an’ you hev done mo’ to make dat man respect do power of de law an’ de rights of odder men dan any Work House sentence could do.