25 JANUARY 1935, Page 19

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—Ultimately the vexed question whether it is or is not a good idea for Society to kill its convicted murderers and murderesses must depend for the answer upon an experiment.

The Royal Commission of five years ago invited the Govern- ment to make that experiment by suspending the death penalty for a few years in order to see what happened.

What advice could be more sensible in an age accustomed to the teachings of Science and inductive research ?

Why do we hesitate to make the test ? Whatever were the result it would be damning evidence—and all Englishmen love adjectival proofs.—Yours very truly,