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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Bayfield Bulletin, 1966-01-12, Page 2Consider Too, Unenforceable Laws WATCH FoR COMING ATFRAc,, tor CPL. W. M. ANGLIA 5 TA ers mat. EDWARD FUELS SHELL --FURNACE OIL —STOVE OIL —FARM GASOLINE —DIESEL Fast Delivery Dependable Serrate Phone 524-83114 EDWARD FUELS 202 Angles«, Godevich ESTABLISHNIENT of a Canadian Intel poi, a province-linking equi- valent of the celebrated international police organization and other ways and means of combatting organized crime, rate high priority on the agenda of this week's "crime busting" conference of attorneys-general in Ottawa. The idea of effecting some degree of integration of police efforts and sys- tems in the 10 provinces, and as well with those of the RCMP, is one that should he adopted without much de- bate. Indeed, it probably has come as something of a surprise to most Cana- dians that this obviously desirable step was not taken long ago. Federal representatives will obtain the feeling of the provinces on the is- sue of capital punishment. which is to come before Parliament at its forth- coming session. Of importance, too, will be discussions of improvements in federal and provincial laws dealing with bankruptcies. Attorney-General Robert Bonner of British Columbia has placed emphasis upon conference consideration of crim- inal law and whether it is sufficiently When the board of education decided the other day to retain the strap in Ham- ilton schools, trustees said they would be glad of some alternative, but sometimes the strap was the only way. This probably sums up the feeings of the majority of intelligent people. No one would want to go back to the bad, long-ago days when the sound of the paddle and yells of the victim mcde the rest of the class tremble with fear. The old dilemma remains: How to maintain order when authority is stripped of potential powers of reprisal, except those which are mean and petty? To put a teach- er in the invidious position of having re- sponsibility without authority is not only unjust, it is unrealistic. If schools exist only to inculcate "booklearning" and ig- nore discipline then they are fulfilling only half the purpose of education. Many people do not need a police force to ensure that they observe the rules of social order and do not break the law, but there are some who do. It is not dif- ficult to imagine the state of affairs in a society which had to dance to the tune of its most disorderly elements because the broad to encompass activities that. are undesirable, asserting that the basic problem is one of enforcement. Enforcement is indeed of paramount concern. But the conference should consider as well the reverse proposi- tion; whether time, changed conditions and altered standards of morality and moral concepts have not made long- standing laws obsolete and unenforce- able. For example, bingo games and lotteries are outlawed by federal sta- tute, but responsibility for enforce- ment rests with provincial and munici- pal authorities. There is a great body of opinion in Canada that holds the view that such ''gambling" can be innocent fun and that moneys raised from them can be devoted to useful charitable and in- stitutional purposes. Indeed, govern- ment profits from racetrack betting, another form of gambling—yet frowns on lotteries. In this area the conference could render a public service by recommend- ing the repeal of laws that not only have become unenforceable but which bring ridicule down upon the police agencies that attempt to enforce them. law no longer existed. It is not too big a leap from a society deprived of its paraphernalia of law and justice to a classroom where a teacher, bereft of authority, must maintain order. There are undoubtedly teachers en- dowed with commanding personalities, and others who, through long experience, have acquired the ability to maintain discipline in the large classes with which they so often have to cope these days. But it would be ridiculous to expect all teachers to be so equipped. One of the big problems today, in schools and out of them, is how to con- trol the socially intractable. Those who would have corporal punishment banished completely seldom present a valid altern- ative that would produce the same effect. How, for example, a teacher should deal with an insolent, hulking 15-year-old im- bued with the sneering "Who cares?" at- titude? The board of education acted wisely in retaining the strap, not as a weapon of terror for the well-behaved—they do not neet it—but for the minority where reason fails and authority must make a firm ges- ture.—Hamilton Spectator. RESTRAINT AGAINST ANARCHY MOST uiFFicuur of all disciplines is self-discipline. Voters in democratic countries often know that approving higher pensions for themselves is not good for the country, but who's to stop them? Does a reasoned argument for restraint get a candidate elected, or is the promise of sup- plying free beer for a beer-drinking populace a likelier lure to be commended to all statesmen? Charles de Gaulle is considered by most Frenchmen to be the savior of France but many of the believers voted against the national hero. In the 194o election some young women working in a factory said they owed much to the Hon. Harry Stevens, but locally the opposing candidate, being handsome in an Air Force uniform, got the votes while the Stevens man was older and a civilian. These things arc not confined to France or to Canada in a depression election. In Brazil they had to call out the fire department, in a manner of speaking, to try to get the conflagration of in- flation under control. There has been some success in this effort but there also has been critical writing that, in sum- mary, says that the wildest element in the nation arc being denied a divine right to let it burn. Restraint is not in the lexicon of those who see as de- structive of democracy all efforts to save a country from anarchy. FOR A LIBERAL PARTY t..y SIX WEEKS of campaigning through the press, on the hustings, over the radio and on TV failed utterly to clarify the issues in the 1965 election. It served only to becloud them; and, on election day, the voters showed their dis- approval by pronouncing the simple verdict, "As you were," and sent the parties back to Parliament with sub- stantially the same strength as before. The trouble was that the politicians themselves had lost their bearings and had no clear idea what they believed or towards what goal they were travelling. When the Liberal party and the Conservative party abandoned the prin- ciples on which they were founded and which had guided their thinking in the past, and, instead of exposing the glaring fallacies of socialism and social credit, accepted such fallacies as part of their own creeds, they confused their own thinking and impaired their ability to distinguish between sound political principles and cheap political ex- pedients. B-I-N-G-O Every Saturday Night Branch 109 Can. Legion Goderich, Ont. 14 Games for $1 00 SUBSTANTIAL JACKPOT THE McKILLOP MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY Office — Mal, Street SILAFORTH Insures: • Town OwellInga • All Clasen of Farm PFIM•rit • Summer Cottages • Churches, teapots. Malta Pa-tended e o •r r g • OMR& smoke. water damage. MIRE AGENTS: James Keys, RA 1, /=.44.V. )3. 1s also fardi j WM. Jr, Losatlasbasec •Baker, amisils: Flareld Squirm, C7 Squirm, Georgetbyea:14=; Donald G. Mos. Sestorth_ Page 2, The Bayfield Bulletin, Thursday January 12, 1966 THE LONDON FREE PRESS, JOTTINGS FROM THE EDITOR . . Owing to some uncomfortable brushes with Fate or whatever, such as burst water pipes, frozen water lines, electronic gadgets that jam, electric typewr- iters that go haywire, car parts that break and prove next to unobtainable, Ye Olde Editor is carefully av- oiding writing what is pressing deepest and putting the iron into the soul. Instead, we defer to our est- eemed contemporaries above and below and keep the muffled groans and curses out of type. Teachers Need the Strap Olp Vagfirth /Main Published Every Thursday at Boyfield, Ontario by ART ELLIOTT PUBLISHING LTD. ART ELLIOTT AUDREY BELLCHAMBER Editor and Publisher Social Editor Ruth E. Hayman Associate Editor Subscription Rates: Canada U.S.A. $4.00 per Annum 15.00 per Annum Advertising Rates on Request P.O Box 94 Phone 96 MOW °LAYING -Trer Promotion for OPP man THE PRINTED WORD Cpl. W. M. 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