The second reading of the Corporal Punishment Bill—not to be
confounded with the Juvenile Offenders Bill now passing through the Lords—was moved in the House si
Commons on Wednesday by Mr. Wharton, and was thrown out by a majority of. 12S. The Bill, which repealed a num- ber of punishments by flogging provided for in former Acts —one of which enacted that any man betting in any public place could be whipped—retained corporal punishment for highway robbery and garrotting, and provided that flogging might be adjudged in case of armed burglars, as well as for other offences of a grave and serious character against women and children. Mr. Wharton, who brought forward no new arguments in support of the Bill, observed that it had been said that the Tories were about to indulge in their favourite pastime of flogging the working man ; but he brought forward that Bill to protect the wives and children of the working men from the violence of tramps and other dis- reputable characters. In the debate which followed the balance of argument, official experience, and intellect was overwhelmingly opposed to the Bill. On the official position Mr. Asquith threw a significant light by the statement that since the question had become a matter of Parliamentary business, not one of the six Home Secretaries who bad held office had taken the responsibility of making such a proposal. Sir Matthew White Ridley having followed on the same lines, declaring that he could not support the Bill, the debate rapidly collapsed, and only seventy-two Members were found to support a measure which passed a second reading in the House eleven years ago by a large majority.
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