Corpun file 20935

Daily Mirror, 10 May 1967

Cane is banned for Navy boys

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CANING of boy sailors has been abolished as a Navy punishment. This was revealed in a Commons answer yesterday.

Mr. Gerry Reynolds, Minister of Defence (Administration), told Mr. Harry Howarth (Lab., Wellingborough): "Caning has been accepted for many years as one form of discipline of juniors in the Royal Navy.

"It has not been a subject of complaint from parents."

But Mr. Reynolds said the practice had been reviewed. The Government had decided to bring the Navy "into line with the other two Services in this respect."

Mr. Reynolds concluded: "The practice of caning has therefore been abolished."

Corpun file 21656

Daily Mail, London, 10 May 1967

Navy stops boy beatings

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THE NAVY has abolished the caning of boy sailors, Mr. Gerry Reynolds, Minister of Defence (Administration) told the Commons yesterday.

He said caning was accepted for many years as a form of discipline for minors in the Royal Navy. But it had now been decided to bring the Navy into line with the other two Services.

The RAF had never sanctioned corporal punishment for its cadets and apprentices, and the Army abolished it in 1956.