29 MARCH 1935, Page 3

The Crime of Sleeping Out We wish well to the

little Bill, which General Spears brought in last Tuesday to abolish the crime of " sleeping out." Under the Vagrancy Act, 1824, a person who sleeps under a hedge or a rick with money in his pocket commits no offence ; but a person doing so penniless can be sent to prison. Some 1,612 persons were so charged in 1931. This archaic law, inspired by a state of things obtaining when the country had still no regular police, is a barbarity impossible to justify today. General Spears in drafting his Bill -has been careful to consult the Honie Office, and to cover by his draft just so much as official opinion deems quite unopposable, and no more. Such a Bill ought to go through.

* * * *