THE HOME SECRETARY AND THE REPRESSION OF BRUTAL ASSAULTS,

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 421, 28 January 1875, Page 2

THE HOME SECRETARY AND THE REPRESSION OF BRUTAL ASSAULTS,

The Times Oct. 24, is glad to find that the attention of the Home Secretary has been attracted to the frequent occurrence of crimes of brutal violence among " certain classes of the population," and that he is desirous of taking such measures as may best ' tend to repress them. It is certainly high time that something effeotual should be done. The man who is capable already of committing a brutal assault upon a helpless victim, who can find a pleasure in kicking or gouging for his own sake, and sometimes without the semblance of provocation, such r a fellow is so far degraded that he has not much- to lose by the further degradation of the cat-o-'nine-tails. Indeed if the punishment we desire for him were merely degrading, he would, no doubt, display great courage in undergoing but but it is painful too, and that in a very high degree, and this is. the .aspect of it which alone has much terror for him. It is mere trifling in such a case to talk of degradation at all. It is necessary that the ruffians whom the Home Secretary i& proposing tv ■ take in hand should be taught, by whatever process, that they must find some other method of diverting themselves than by kicking their relatives. Since other means fail us for imparting this valuable lesson, we must have recourse to the old method of retaliation. The power of sentencing a man to be flogged is not, however, one which we would wish to Bee entrusted to an. inferior court. It needs to be employed with more than ordinary caution, and to be reserved for those offences only which really merit it. For there it is, in truth, the very best that could be dcvi cd. ! We welcome, says the Hmr (October 26), the letter from the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department rea I last week at a general meeting of the Middlesex Magistrates, as a pledge of an imperative reform in our criminal legislation. It has been be'i^vsd foi some time past that the Government intended *o introduce a Bill for the punishment of crimes of violence, espacially against worn 311 and children, by i of that corporal chastisement, in addition to im- ] prisonment, which is now inflicte I for theft and violence combined. We understand that the Liverpool migistrates have been invited to give their collective opinion as to the b^st met'iod of dealing with the brutal ruffianism so common in large towns. A similar question has now been put to the magisterial be»ch of Middlesex, and we trust that the judicial authorities of all our great cities will alao b3 asked to assist the Homo Office with their advice. It is a strong proof of the energy of Mr Secretary Gross that his department has deliberately committed itself to a thoroughgoing and scientific measure for the stamping out of crimes of violence and passion.