A DEGRADING SPECTACLE.

Shannon News, 14 March 1922, Page 4

A DEGRADING SPECTACLE.

SCHOOLGIRL PUBLICLY EXPELLED. STRONG PROTEST MADE. Christchurch, February 28. At the Elmwood Public School a few days ago, a girl of ten years was paraded before the whole school assembled in the playground, lectured by the headmaster and chairman of the school committee, and solemnly expelled, because she had been proved guilty of theft and falsehood.

The incident has caused a good deal of comment and criticism. One correspondent writes:—“The deed was done before the whole of the scholars who had assembled to saulte the flag. This was regarded as a lifting occasion to expose the unfortunate little offender and make of her an obejct lesson, calculated no doubt to make a lasting impression on the whole school, and on the girl. As a lover of British justice, and as a citizen loyal to British institutions, I deeply regret this outrage was com..atted in connection with the saluting of the flag. I know of no sentiments connected with the Uion Jack which lit with cruelty to a little child inflicted ppmpously by people ‘dressed in a little brief authority. 7 ” The “Lyttleton Times 77 regrets that the punishment, severe enough in itself, should have been intensified through being administered before the scholars. This was done, of course, with the best of intentions, the main one being to impress upon the whole school the seriousness of the offence, but all the same, the course adopted seems to have been unnecessarily harsh and certainly harsher than would have been the ease had the offender been handed over to the police- In that case the child would Jiave been dealt with by the magistrate in the Juvenile