CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 127, 20 May 1908, Page 4

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOLS.

-A FUAXKLEY ROAD IXCIDEX'T. In Hie 5.?.1. Conn vesterdae. before .Mr 11. S. Fitzhcrbort.'s.M. Frederick Mchalloy. !,v his next friend. Henry Menaffey'. proceeded against Thomas Bndda,- Winlieli!. school teacher,of Frankley road, claiming C 25 damages for that the defendanl did, oil May sth. at. Frankley road, a-a nil am! beat the plaint-ill. ' ' Mr. llntchen, in opening, submitted that there was no ground for tlie immoderate punishment inflicted, and quoted the regulation providing that corporal punishment must be by means ( ,f a leathern strap, the amount of punishment and the offence to be entered in the log-book. Philip S. Whilcombe, secretary of the Tarauaki Education Hoard, gave formal evidence.

The plaintiir, a short little bov with a big long name, Frederick Albert Kitchener MehauYv. eight year.-: o, age. said that at the Franli'lcv -elmol ra sth Mav the teacher accu-.-l him "I taking live pencils from a girl p.pil. lie denied having taken them, ami In- -i----ter volunteered the informal ion lire "In liad them all Ihe time." The teacher then took him into the porch, and gave him the cane. lie had to beinl over, bis hands touching the lloor, and 111" children told him he had "Iwcuiy .-ul-.." For his own part, lie didn't know how many "cuts" he got, but he pointed to the posterior portion of his anatomy which received tlie blows. The S.M.: By the way, did he take your trousers down? The little fellow said "No," and added that after the beating he was taken back into the schoolroom and was kept standing on a form from the dinnerhour till half-past three o'clock. He

was "last out" that day. lie had never lieen punished at that school More. Miss McDermid took the pencils from him, and gave them to Eileen Balh-.u-tyne, who was supposed to have 10-l them. She also took his pen from his pencil-case, and kept it for a long lime.

Cross-examined: The boy -aid that when he was going into the schom niter lunch .Miss .UclJcrmid a-ked him how many had been ill tin' -cliool-ro.ini during the lunch hour. lie cried, and l-'.ilceu Jiallanlyne and two other boys cried, too. Eileen ISullantyne had losi live new pencils, and he hail live full sticks of pencil ill his ease, lie told Miss McDermid that Ids sister Lilian had brought the pencils t„ school for him. He didn't tell Miss MeDerinid afterwards that he brought them himself. His father had never boaien him lor not going for the cows. He was quite certain of that. ,Yhcu Mr. Wiulield was going to cane him, he stood up and said, "Father -ays you're not to hit u.s." lie tearfully denied having admitted the theft, and he as-ured tile examining lawyer that he didn't lake them, adding, "Fin (sob) telling (sob) the I null (sob)." The other children couldn't s IT him being beat. u. (.'oun-el produced the cane ail ged i.i have been used, but the youny.st.ci- said

"It was ficker than that." Dr. J. IS. MaeDiarinid. who examined Ulc juvenile plaintiff on the day after this thrashing, said he found a bruised area on each buttock and a small weal on the right thigh, possibly inflicted by a cam:—tertainly four strokes. Asked il the punishment was severe, he woind say the boy had "a good thrashing." but not too severe for a child of that, size. lie had often ivccivcd -:-gj>od thrashings" himself, and he inclined to the opinion that possibly they did him good. Miss 11. McDcrmid, assistant teii'-'n-v at l-'ranklcy school, with twelve years' experience, and for eighteen men!lis occupying her present position, said thai. recently several small thefts had been reported by the pupils. The boy MehalTey was below the average in disposition and everything else. On May

nth she sold eight new pencils to Eileen

ilallantync. and during the rccc-s live of these were stolen. When Ihe children were entering Hie school in the dinner-hour she asked which of I hem were in the school in the dinner-hour, and live came forward. llclwlVev anion;: them. Thev denied the theft. Me . hall'cv died, and protested that whatever he had was brought i.* hi- si-lcr (the siste,- stated Unit she iiad hmuglil his lunch, a slate, and a pencil |. She made them all put I heir belonging,, on the desks in front til them. and Mehafley bad live new pencils unused. lie protested that they were hi-, and t'aal he had brought then) to school him-eli in a pencil-cast; which he produced. The sister stated that her mother would not have given him so many, and he must have got them at school. .she was perfectly satisfied that the boy stole the pencils, and reported the matter to the head-teacher, who subsequently came lor further information. To Mr. llutchen: The pen alleged to have been taken from the boy by her was found on the floor and given by her to his sister. The defendant, T. I!. Wiiificld. the head-teacher at Frankley school, with 211 years' Taranaki experience, said he had never had a complaint previously by a parent. He had been at Frankley school nine years, and Mehafl'ey had attended for about a year. Petty pilfering at the school was recently reported. On May sth the theft of pencils was reported to him, and MehalTov was sent in by Miss MoTJcrniid. Witness finished the lesson he was giving, and then addressed the class, telling them that he was going to punish the bov. and whv. Then he took the lad to' the lobby, where he protested his innocence so loudly that he went a \v»y and made investigations himself. As a re-lilt he was convinced the boy was guilty, and was lying. He came back and told tile boy to l>end over. The lad -lood up and impudently said, "My father -a\S you are not to tottoh us.'' 11,. gave the boy four or five smart cut on the buttocks, and then asked the lad if he persisted in the denial. The bov admitted the theft, and said he took the pencils as he left the room at lunchlime. He then talked quietly to the boy. and gave him a few more cutsnot more than ten in all. Mr. Fitzherbert: That's not the wav to make a boy tell the trnlh-tu punish him after confession. The defendant said he though! the punishment not too severe. Cross-examined by Mr. Huleheii: Tie boy's impudence did not tend to lighten the punishment. lie entered the occurrence at the end of the week, as was his custom, and he did not know then that he was to receive a summons. Hehad never punished the boy before. The punishment, in view of the report- of the boy, was not too severe. Such a punishment was not his rule, and a rare occurrence in the school.

Mr. ¥.. V. Fookes. who examined the boy on May 12th, found four <snrc im his left leg and three on his right, indicating an anaemic- state. A liov in such a state of health would bruise easily. There were bruises upon either buttock., and 011 the rijilil Hugh, a bruise on the back of the iirm, and others. There was n»in to indicate dislineilv tbal Ihe bruise's had been caused bv a nine, though Ihe -■an.. iuig'l.l lime cauSe,| fix-,,,. The cllild evidenced no pain when the bruises were pressed upon, and In' had no dillicully in hemline;. 'J'liere was nothing to indicate excessive, punishment. | for the defence, it was urged that the parent sen,ling lt child to scl I delegated to the school-niaslor all th. authority of a parent, as all'eeling tic welfare of the child: and that the'puni;'h nl in Ihisens,. was not excessive. Mr. Ilutelieu eonteu.lcl that, the punishment inlliclcd bv defendant was elective, lie also raised a law point on the regulations regarding corporal liuiiMiment. His Worship reserved his decision to allow him to consider the point raised by Mr. llutclicn. „.