SHOULD COWARDS DIE?

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 950, 17 April 1930, Page 11

SHOULD COWARDS DIE?

LORDS REJECT DEATH PENALTY SCHEME INADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE British Official Wireless RUGBY,, Tuesday. An amendment to the Army and Air Force Annual Bill, deleting the clause which provided for the abolition of the death penalty fop cowardice in the face of an enemy and for desertion, was carried in the House of Lords today by 45 votes to 12. The amendment was moved by Viscount Fatzalan. It was supported by Field-Marshal Viscount Plumer, who said that as senior officer of the Army he wholeheartedly supported it. The retention of the death penalty was necessary for the preservation of discipline. On active service the success or failure of an operation depended for the most part on the morale of the troops. Lord Plumer said he . 111 r. - -?■* ' j amendment. He said an alteration Lord Allenby ill the existing law would tend to suggest to the minds of young soldiers that these offences were regarded as less great than actually they were.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, said the Government could not reconsider its decision in this matter. With reluctance he had gone against the advice of the Air Council in his approval of the abolition of the death penalty for cowardice and allied offences. The difference between the men who sacked Bedajoz and the men of today was such that one could not apply the same rules to them. The ordinary private soldier today was ten times as civilised and sensitive a human being as those soldiers were. The Minister said the House of Lords could not disregard the result of the free voting In the House of Commons in favour of the abolition of the death penalty. If the House sent the Bill back to the House of Commons it would come back to the Rouse of Lords with the deleted section reinstated. The Committee stage of the Bill was completed and the Bill passed its remaining stages. Now it has to return to the House of Commons fqr consideration of the amendment. The House ,of Lords was to have adjourned this evening for the Easter recess, but will now. meet again on Thursday to receive this Bill back from the House of Commons.