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FOUR JUVENILE OFFENDERS
WHIPPED.
The magistrates who composed the bench at
the' city police court yesterday, with Mr.
Kicho'.son, P.M., as chairman, gave undoubted
proof that they fully appreciate the sound
wisdom of the proverb—"Spare the rod and
spoil the child." Nearly the whole of 'the
sitting was occupied in dealing with juvenile
larcenists, ranging in age from twelve to fifteen
wars, and tile proceedings derived sortie signi
ii. ance from the fact that the 57th section of
the .Juvenilf Offenders Act was put into opera
tion for the first time in Sandhurst ou three
distinct charges, and four juvenile offenders
wore ordered to he privately birched' by the
police. The first case was that of a boy named
Charles Henningson, who was brought up
charged with the larceny of a por
tion of a Government reserve fence,
in (lie Wclisford State forest. It was
staled in evidence by Constable OTTarrcll that
tlic hoys' mother (who was also before the court j
on a charge of breaking one of the timber regu
lations) was a widow in very poor circumstances
who was in the habit of sending her boy out to
cut wood, upon the sale of which alio depended
f.jr a livelihood. On one of these occasions he
committed the act which formed the substance
o the charge. A witness stated that the boy
i-cemed thoroughly insensible to the criminality
of his conduct, and did not seem to realise his
l>oiiti'>ii. After licuring the evidence the P.M.,
Mr. Nicholson, addressing the boy said—"This
work of yours must bo stopped, and you
must be awakened to the wrong you
are doing. You are committing larceny
ami growing up a young thief. The beneli
must make an impression upon you. -You will
be imprisoned for 24 hours, and, in addition,
will receive privately a whipping of 12 strokes,
to be administered by a constable or other
authorised person in the presence of your
mother or guardian. The bench hopes this
will leave such an impression upon you that
you will never repeat the offence. If you do
you will be treated with still greater severity."
The P.M. then censured the boy's mother,
telling her that the conduct of her son was in a
yreat measure due to herself.
The second case was that of the boy, Daniel
Stebbins, who was charged with breaking into
the post office at Rowan, and stealing money to
the value of £29 Is. 4d. After hearing the evi
dence bearing on the case, 11r. Nicholson
said the bench thought it necessary to be some
what severe in this case, as a matter of public
policy. Property in such places should be
treated as sacred, and they felt it incumbent
upon them to do what they conld to prevent a
repetition of such an ofl'ence. Stebbins would
be whipped privately with twelve strokes by an
oi'ticer of the police with a birch rod and be "sen
tenced to 14 days' imprisonment. The Governor
of the coal would be instructed to keep Stebbins
separate from other prisoners.
The other subjects of such punishment were the
boys William Murray and Samuel Tapscott, who
were brought up charged with the larceny of two
rets of teeth, valued at £20, the property of
Mr. ITall, dentist, Pall Mall. After the evi
dence, two or three previous convictions were
sworn against Tapscott, the younger of the
r.TO. Mr. Hobday, who appeared for Taps
cott, asked the bench to inflict upon
his client a sound whipping instead of sending
him to gaol. The Rev. Hunter Potter, who
was present, and volunteered to speak on behalf
of Tapscott, said he bad taken an interest in the
hoy while visiting the gaol, where helirst found |
him undergoing a sentence for larceny. He had
often given him good advice, and felt convinced !
thnt the boy had fully intended to mend his I
ways, as he bad been very well" behaved for
some time before the larceny of the teeth. An
employer of Tapscott said that she found the
hoy strictly honest while in l:--r employ recently.
Murray's father was present, and said lie had
found in his boy nothing to complain of until
lately, when lie had taken up with
had companions. Mr. Nicholson, at the
■close of the case, in addressing the
hoys, said :—" The punishment we are'
about to mete out to you is not only in retribu
tion for your bat is intended to deter
you from following the course which will lead
io your own ruin. Instead of growing up to
become respectable citizens, if you are not
checked and if you do not conduct yourselves
properly, you will both become miserable out
casts from society." Tapscott was sent to
prison for two months, and Murray for 24
hours, and they were ordered to receive a
whipping of 12 strokes each.
All the boys received the decisions of the
bench with apparent indifference. In the after
noon the orders of the court were carried into
execution at the watch-house, all the boys
whipped by a constable, under the super
intei."Jence °f Sub-inspector O'Flaherty. They 1
bore th °ir punishment without much demonstra
tion of pa'.'l.- A great deal of difficulty was met
with before a. constable could be found who was
w illing to adm/uister the birchings. A great
many were asked, but refused, many of them
preferring to face dismissal rather than inflict
the punishment on the boys. However, as
stated above, a constable was at last found who
put an end to the difficulty. The police were
in several instances indignant tit the request
tli.it was preferred to them, as they were of
opinion that a man outside the force should be
appointed for performing such offices. The
cases of those who refused to carry out the
onler of the court will be investigated, so that
an interesting development may be expected.
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