The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. SIXTY LASHES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81849, 25 September 1906, Page 2

The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 5 . SIXTY LASHES.

Westl'ort man was sentenced last wer-k to ton years' impiisimmen; with hard labour and three of twenty lashes <'ach fur a oft, meon a woman. This reminds us thai Hogging has rather gone out of fashion. As it is positively the only m<thod of punishment the hiatal und ! rstand, it is a pity, it is unnecessary to go into the ethics uf the quest-on, or to find any excuses for the brutal offenders in the stale of their minds. The point is that they are briues, and that locking up a brute merely inci eases his bestial ity. Anyone who keeps a dog knowfc that hi' is fiercer when he is chained up. If he is a sheep killer, he wiL siti) his collar if nijssible and u-ci

I away. If he is flogged every time lie offends, he will leave off offending, uniess he is a confirmed criminal. He has a deep respect for his own hide. The same with a bruta> human being. The Auckland man who rendered a woman insensible three weeks ago did it by brute force. He was fined. He was not flogged, but he should have been. The West port man is to be flogged and imprisoned as well. Of ccutsc, the two sentences were not imposed by the same persons. We hold that wherever any person is gui'ty of an assault or unprovoked physical attack, he is worthy of at least as much physical attack as he served out to his victim. The fear of physical hurt is the worst punishment you can give to a coward. There was a par ticularly bad case of physical i£lcreatment of a child in Wellington the other day. The child died. It muse have suffered intense agonies fiom starvation and ill-trea;ment. The person who caused the agonies >nd death of that child is not going to be Hogged. Why not? Well, be cause it is so brutal in a refined and elevated country like New Zca'and. And yet flogging is absolutely the only deterrent to many of the crimes of brutality that arc too common. In the more enlightened future sex maniacs may be dealt with still more effectively. It is better for the majority that the mad minority be impotent. In the past people have suffered for their soft hcartedness in not adopting cenain and effective measures, but the time is coming wiicn they will support science in the matter.