I personally don't believe in inflicting any violence on young children (whether by using cane or hands) because 1) it sends the message to the children that violence is fine and adults can wield power over them just because we are adults 2) adults are setting a poor role model 3) the children may turn out to be resentful.
A lot also depends on the age of the children. For younger children below three, as their reasoning skills are still not advanced and their verbal skills may also not be well developed yet, we have to find out the reasons behind the actions. Recently, a friend's 2 year old was biting another child in childcare. It turned out she was frustrated when her toy was taken away. 6 months later, my friend said that the biting episodes have stopped as her daughter is a lot more articulate now. In this case, if the biting happens, the adult should tell the biter firmly that biting hurts and then help the biter to make some "restitutions" to the victim e.g. icing the swelling on the skin. You would also teach the "victim" that she needs to ask for permission for a turn at playing with the toy or perhaps use distractions. The adult would also need to assess the physical environment and see if it is because of crammed space or insufficient playthings that lead to the frequent biting.
For older children, set clear boundaries and then carry out the consequences (the child must know what these consequences are) immediately if these boundaries are broken would be advisable. But I think this is the hardest part. Most adults would ignore the children's "misdeeds" initially and when the child repeats the actions again, the adult would then lose control and start hitting the child! Either that or the adult would nag and nag at the child until it becomes ineffective as the child tunes out (I told you not to....how many times have I told you not to....)
An incident I saw:
Child of about 6 years old jumped queue when waiting for the school bus. Teacher said, "The rule for jumping queue is that you have to go back in line" (The children in the class all know this rule and the consequence). Child refused to budge. Teacher said, "You either go back to the end of the queue or I will help you go back to the end of the queue." Child refused to budge. Teacher said, "You have chosen for me to help you go back to the queue". Teacher subsequently held the child's hand and took him back to the queue.
The child kicked and screamed and yelled at the top of his lungs. He was out of control. That was when the teacher put him in time out as he had lost control of his emotions. Time out should be used for this purpose: when the child's has lost his cool totally (or the adult! In which case the adult needs a time out).
Children, like adults, want some control over their lives. So before adults set unnecessary rules, it is always good to discuss and negotiate with the children to the extent possible but of course, some situations are not possible, for example, the child wants his bed time to be set at 1am on a school day! As the adults, of course, we have to put our foot down to this request as it is no good for the child's health.
Once, my friend's 5 year old started biting his grandma, who had come over to stay for a few months. My friend was exasperated and some well meaning friends asked he to rub chilli padi on the girl's lips! I asked her to find out why her girl might be biting her grandma. Later, I found out that her grandma had upset her daily routine after she came over to look after the girl for a few months. The grandma insisted that the girl bathed immediately after she returned from kindy every day and the girl protested, by biting grandma! This was not the girl's usual routine. Of course, the girl was wrong to bite Grandma and this message must be communicated clearly to the girl but knowing the reason why the girl bit helped my friend to seek a solution.