VICE PROSECUTIONS SIR, —T am very pleased that my protest
should have attracted such eminent support from your readers. Even if our local young people are put in prison, as seems probable, at least their sufferings will not have been in vain, and they will feel supported by the sympathy of many whose motives are unimpeachable. May I, briefly, by way of conclusion, make three points?
1. These letters have shown eight in favour of a cessation of this cruelty and none against. We would ask the Lord Chancellor, who seems so afraid of public opinion, to note this fact. It might also be noted by the Bishops of Carlisle and Rochester, who have both written personally to me supporting such criminal proceedings.
2. I suggest that every effort be made locally to bring assize cases into the light of day so that the public conscience may be aroused. The police may then realise that they are acting against the will of at least a large section of the public, and may come to treat these laws as obsolete. Now, instead of attending to the suppression of crime, they fritter away a considerable part of their time with inquiries which would be ludicrous if they were not tragic. This may be an unsatisfactory solution, but it seems to be the only alternative as long as we have a govern- ment too weak to implement the findings of its own committees.
3. A section of the press, and it must be said of less scrupulous lawyers, stands to lose heavily when the private sexual affairs of homosexuals cease to fill columns and briefcases. We should remember this, as it no doubt explains, as in similar situations in the past, much of the opposition to reform from these quarters.—Yours faithfully,
8 Chamberlain Street, Welts R. D. REID
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