NIUE MURDER CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 296, 14 December 1922, Page 4

NIUE MURDER CASE.

There is at present serving sentence it Samoa a native named Matin, who,i* may be remembered, was charged witk having murdered a native constable at Niue last year. Matiu was sentenced to deat' , but this was afterwards commuted to imprisonment for life, and his nephew (Ulumotu) was sentenced to ten years penal servitude. The men were firrt of all sent up to Auckland, and Ulumotu died soon after he came up. Mr. E.BVaile, of Auckland, came into possession of a confession by Ulumotu which clears Matiu, and for some time Mr. Vaile bal been trying to get the Government t» release Matiu, but so far without any success. He intends to take the master further, and he urges that the publis should insist that a thorough inquiry bs made and justice done to an innocent man. Mr. Vaile complains that he hat had no assistance from the Cook Islands Department in his investigations, and i» says the correspondence between Matin and himself and others has been mysteriously interrupted. He makes it clear that the present capable Resident Commissioner at Niue has had nothing to do with Matiu's case.