THE HARMLESS NECESSARY "CAT"

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2671, 24 August 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE HARMLESS NECESSARY " CAT"

Mr Punch has small sympathy with what ho deems tho false sentiment which denounco3 the use of the lash —upon brutes—as brutalising. Means must bo adapted to ends. The buglar and tho ruffianly wife-boater would soom to havo something iu common with tho immortal lady who didn't mind death but couldn't stand pinching. They don't seem, effectively, to mind tho riske of tho calling, or tho prospect of imprisonment, but they ' cannot stand' whipping , . Whipping, therefore, sharp and painful, without being physically injurious, would seem to bo a promising deterrent, and, indeed, lias proved so, iu the opinion of good judges. Now it is complained that tho ' cat' is cruel, because it seriously injures as well as pains. Very well, let that bo amended. To lash a brute so violently that you havo afterwards to cosset him up in hospital cannot be either truo humanity or sound policy. By all moans dock the cat of certain of its nine tails if necessary, and lay on tho remainder with valour, but also with discretion, both as regards tho selection of the spot for their application and the amount of energy of tho application itself. Descend ye Nine r or hix, or three, as the case may bo ; but descend though manfully, yet with measure. — Punch.