Isle of Man Examiner, Douglas, 16 August 1962

Birch - and the Cane

Liverpool Boys in Court

THE birch and the cane were ordered by a Juvenile Court at Douglas on Wednesday in the case of two boys who admitted stealing while on holiday from Liverpool.

"You are going to be punished in a way you can't be punished outside the Isle of Man," said the chairman imposing sentence of four strokes of the birch on one of the boys who was over 14 and four strokes of the cane on the other boy, aged 13.

The boys pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing a pocket watch valued at �1-5-0 from Douglas Corporation tramways stables.

They committed the offence, the court was told, while at the stables watching the tram horses being fed and groomed. The watch belonged to an employee who had hung it on a nail while he was working.

The older boy, aged 14, asked that three other offences of stealing -- including the taking of 4/- from the Wishing Well on the promenade -- be taken into consideration. The other boys asked for five other cases to be considered, four of stealing and one of receiving.

Both boys admitted a number of previous convictions in Liverpool, the older one in 1959, 1961 and this year and the younger one in 1960 and this year.

The court was told that these two were "perpetual thieves".

Two other boys admitted in separate cases a number of shoplifting offences. They had not been before a court previously and were dismissed under the Probation of Offenders Act.