UNDER DEATH SENTENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 139, 13 June 1911, Page 5

UNDER DEATH SENTENCE.

TAHI KAKA'S FATE. AGITATION FOR REPRIEVE. The agitation for the reprieve of Tahi Kaka, the young Maori sentenced to be hanged for the murder of a gumdigger at Fullipuhi, is exciting a good deal of public interest, and there is naturally a difference of opinion on the subject of a reprieve. Dr. Crossiey, Bishop of Auckland, \ whose signature heads the petition for reprieve, informs us that he has for- " warded the following reasons to His Excellency the Governor, with the request • ! that they be brought before the Govern- ; ra._nt as adequate reasons why the \ j jviry"s recommendation to mercy should • j be given effect to:— ' i First.—The boy is only seventeen years • | of age; his brother, -who is nineteen, con- | firms this. ! | Secondly.—ln most minds the verdict ' j was based on the boy's own confession. I No other evidence of the act of murder 7 \ was forthcoming. This at all events, ' , suggests the possibility of a struggle. Thirdly.—The boy's environment. Never - at day or Sunday school; away from home since he was thirteen; of a tribe which has resisted the entrance of any ' religious work amongst them. J Fourthly.—Slow of intellect and mor- - ally dull ; without an acute sense erf pro--1 priety ot wrong. \ "As to his being callous and unfeeling," writes Bishop Crossiey, "1 can give that the strongest denial, both from the wi-t- ---, ness of the Chaplain of the Gaol (the i ] Rev. E C. Budd), and of the Superintend- [ i ent of our Maori Mission (the Rev. H. A. Hawkins), both of whom have repeatedly [ seen him in gaol. In addition I have visited him myself, and have no doubt in my own mind that he is deeply eonseii ous of his awful sin, and I do believe, j truly penitent." j Thi3 position is strongly supported by the Rev. E. C. Budd (Gaol Chaplain), i and the Rev. H. A. Hawkins (S-uperin-r tendent of Maori Missions) on the i grounds set forth by the Bishop. They add that the lad had little chance of • moral teaching. Not only had he never attended school, but the sub-tribe to which he belongs has steadily resisted ) ; religions ministrations being carried on. ; Messrs. Budd and Hawkins state that until Saturday the prisoner had been • buoyed up with the hope that the seni tenee vwuld be commuted, but that he j was by no means callous, and constantly, I in tears, expressed contrition. { A VISIT TO THE CONDEMNED CELL. t The condemned youth was this morning visited by his counsel. Mr. W. E. ■ Hackett. Speaking subsequently to a ."Star" representative, Mr. Hackett said I that on entering the condemned cell the , pitchy blackness of which was only rej heved by a guttering candle, he found , Haka lying on a rude couch, übterlv • wretched and dejected. " The boy looked | haggard and ill," added Mr. Hackett, j " and my personal feelings were such | that I simply"could not stay any length ! of time in the cell with him. He spoke' i quietly to mc, but that he is suffering, land suffering terribly. I have not the : slightest doubt. His brother, who has . been ill in the hospital for some time, ': yesterday left that institution in order I to pay him a brief visit, and the meeting i; was, I understand, a painful one. From ,my opportunities of close observation, ■\1 »m positive that unfair statements are ; | being circulated as to the boy's behavi:;our. Since the sentence of the tourt was >l imposed upon him, he has changed much in appearance, his face bearing every .: trace of acute suffering. The "records : slow that he scarcely sleeps, it being j 6.30 a_n. before he fell asleep on Mon" day morning, and 3 a.m. before be slept this morning. Kaka does not smoke at j : all. and he scarcely -touches his food. I i The only books he re-vls are the prayer! book and the Bible, and these he pores! over by the dim li.ht of his candle.! I am in a position to state that the boy's I condition aroused the active sympathy I of the gaol officials, and the general ex-1 ; pression is that his behaviour is far from j callous. Yesterday he was visited by I Bishop Crossiey, as well as the chaplains,! .and h e told mc that he had gladly wel-I corned their arrival. This mforn'ing I I felt strongly tempted to tell him of the j movement in favour of a reprieve but it j seemed_ to mc that it would be cruel to ! buoy his hopes until some tan-rible result I came within view, and so I refraine. I from making any mention of it. But no man who could have seen Kaka as T saw him this morning could doubt that the , boy is in tbp depths of despair, suffering most terribly, and far from callous in | view of the fate before him." ! THE PRISONER'S CAREER. : Jack Kaka, brother of the prisoner, ! and two years older than Tahi, was mii terviewed at the hospital eg a. "Star" j reporter. Yes, he said, is »„d got a | letter written by his brother at the gaol on 20th May before the trial, but° no other since. He understood that letters ! had been sent, but they had not reached i him. Regarding his brother's career, ; he said that Tahi lived with his father | in a bush settlement at Tauhoro for the first 13 years of his life, working in I the bush with his father. His father | believed in the Bible, but did not like ; the churches, and he never sent his children to school. When he left home | Tahi could not even speak English. He | went to a shopkeeper at Kawa Kawa, j who sheltered him for some days, but | told him that he would be no use about j the shop till he could speak English. | Then he went to the Hukerenui Hotel, and worked there for some time. He afterwards worked in the bush, and for farmers in the Whikapara district. Tahi, said Jack Kaka. had never been to school, and he picked up what English he knew after leaving home. He could not write English, and could not write even good Maori. The letter he got from his brother in May was written in English, hut it was not his brother's writing. It must have been written by somebody else, perhaps a warder. Jack Kaka, in the course of the con-ve-rgatSon. b«m«eif wroh-o Ithe Maori names of the places he mentioned to the interviewer. In reply to a remark that he wrote a particularly good hand he ex-plained that he had been taken away from his fathers place when he was a week old. and had till lf> years of age I lived with an uncle. He had consequently had the advantage of beino- al- I l lowed to go to school. " ; At present he was in the hospital with i an injured arm, and on Wednesday he I I was allowed to go out for a drive. He i had gone to Mount Eden, and had a i short conversation with his brother. He i was allowed to go out for a time. He ' found Tahi very much changed from! when he saw him last. A PARALLEL CASE. I I A parallel case to 'tie present one occurred in 1001, when a young Maori, a ! j boy like Kaka, was sentenced to death | for the murder of a man named Maloney. The circumstances of the crime indicated j that Mahikai butchered his victim with ~ tomahawk in, thr mat*- fiolA.-_lo__.ed'

manner, and then robbed him. Mahikai was captured, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death, and there was no recommendation to mercy. Yet the sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life on the ground that the prisoner was a youth and had had no proper education or any training of the moral sense. Mahikai is now at liberty. THE DEATH SENTENCE. (To the Bditor.j Sir, —Many have been the expressions of amazement that the jury's recommendation in respect to the Maori youth has not been given effect to by the Cabinet. It is surely against the credit of our country that one so young and one so j apparently foolish should have to I pay the death penalty. We question wheI ther the death penalty can be justified at j any time; but in such a case as this we 1 certainly think there ca n be no justificaI tion. This youth evidently looks upon his penalty as honour instead of dishonour.—l am, etc., H. GRINSTEAD. Church of Christ, Donvinion-road.