4 MARCH 1938, Page 22

FLOGGING AS A PUNISHMENT

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

StR,—To accuse a nation of the filthy crime of " sadism " because some young scoundrels are sentenced to receive a slight taste of what they inflicted upon an innocent and unsus- pecting trader is absurd, and a sign of an unhealthy mind.

I had undoubtedly severe pain inflicted upon me by my headmaster when at school in my youth. I have, and had, absolutely no " grouse." If anyone had called him, or the Janitor who kept the cane and was present, a " sadist "—I would have been extremely shocked.

It is the coining of such words and their application to the wrong attributes that breeds wrong thinking. I loathe cruelty —I hate pain—I tremble with rage at injustice, and certainly do not believe in civilised peoples indulging in reciprocal cruelty to lesser peoples—but I cannot find sympathy either for the cruel " crook " who receives a beating, or for the exaggerator who bleats of the temporary minor suffering undergone by these beasts.—Yours sincerely, F. 0. TAYLOR.

Kirkhill, Goldingham, Berwickshire.