MURDER PENALTY.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 410, 17 April 1937, Page 7

MURDER PENALTY.

o Canadian Discussion. Ottawa (Canada), March 27. Again this winter the C modian Parliament has discussed a proposal that hanging be abolished in Canada as the punishment for murder, -rn'l hat Hie ga,s chamber be substituted lor the scaffold. A number of members supported he proposed change, some favoured the electric chair, and some wan ed to abolish capital punishment, bu? 'he Minist. r of Justice, Mr Lapointe, took the ground that haste in the matter should be avoided and the question should be further studied. Mr Lapointe said his information indicated that many persons who hi herto had favour d abolition of the death penalty had changed their opinions, following d recent case in the United States in vhieh a small boy was kidnapped and brutally murdered. So long as such “human monsters” existed, said one writer to •he Minister, hanging must be maintained. In Canada the death penalty is inflicted in the local gaol of the county or district in which the trial is held. A proposal which meets with widespread approval is that executionsshould be carried out in the halflozen Federal penitentiaries, conveniently distributed throughout the country.