A post on a New Zealand forum was sparked by allegations that certain religious schools continued to use corporal punishment, even after it had been outlawed.

It opens with a bizarre anecdote, in which one former teacher describes what happened on the day when the ban came into effect in 1989:

Our Deputy Principal played a joke on the senior school whereby he called every child into his office one by one to administer one last smack to each while he still could. Of course he didn’t, but kids were instructed to return rubbing their behinds and looking miserable to scare their classmates.

Actually, this hints at one of my more long-abiding daydreams: a Headmaster administering what he knew to be his last caning before the law changed, to a particularly deserving girl. My, how he would make it count.