Corpun file 22868

Cairns Post, Queensland, 6 April 1932

Whippings arranged for wayward youths.

Father agrees.

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BRISBANE, April 5.

Two whippings were arranged for by Mr. Justice Webb this morning when he concluded the Criminal Sittings of the Kingaroy Circuit Court in Brisbane owing to the fact that the parents of one of the two youths dealt with were in Brisbane.

Walter Edward Eichenloff, 17, had pleaded guilty with James Francis Keenan, who was under 17, to having set fire to a cream shed and gate at Bellfield, near Kingaroy, on October 31 last and was presented for sentence.

His Honor said he was not anxious to send the youth to gaol, but thought he should be punished by somebody who had authority over him. He (His Honor) had no authority, however, to order that to be done. Addressing the boy's father, who was present, His Honor asked if he was prepared to give the youth a good threshing [sic]and the father replied, "Yes, if it is human."

His Honor said he thought it must be done. He thought corporal punishment should be inflicted in a case like this. The offence was a very serious one. He could not order the youth to be whipped, but he ordered that defendant should be released in his own recognisance in £150 to be of good behaviour for two years provided that he was suitably whipped by his father in the presence of Sergeant Maher.

His Honor expressed the wish that the strokes, which were to be applied on the bare buttocks, should not exceed nine. He said he had seen the cane which it was proposed to use and thought it would be suitable.

In the case of Keenan, who had been sent to a reformatory for two years, His Honor said, he was prepared to recommend his release provided he was similarly chastised.