§ Mr. J. Dugdaleasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will consider issuing instructions to all Colonial Governors that only those offences punishable by corporal punishment in this country shall be so punishable in the Colonies.
§ Colonel StanleyNo, Sir. The question of corporal punishment in the Colonies was considered in 1939–40, when it was decided, on the advice, of the Colonial Penal Administrative Committee, that the time was not ripe for the total abolition of corporal punishment in Colonial territories; but that in the case of adults the gradual abolition of corporal 611W punishment as a court sentence should be aimed at, and that in the case of juveniles there should be a gradual replacement of corporal punishment by supervision in approved schools or by probation officers. In the case of prison offences it was hoped that as a general principle corporal punishment should be awarded only for mutiny, attempted mutiny and violence towards officers of the prison service. I have recently reviewed the position. A good deal has been done in spite of the difficulties imposed by war conditions, but I am proposing shortly to make a further examination of the question in those territories where such a course seems desirable.