WILL SHOW PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 228, 26 September 1930, Page 9

WILL SHOW PAPERS.

MINISTER-ON WANGANUI; MURDER 'CASE.-f WHY SENTENCE' WAS COMMUTED. (By-Telegraph. —Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. .An offer .to to any. member all papers which Cabinet had considered in connection with the- recent Wanganui murder case was made in . the House of Representatives to-day .by the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, Minister of Justice, when replying to a question put by Mr. R. A. Wright.' (Reform, Wellington Suburbs)'. Mr. Wright had asked for an > assurance that there were particular grounds for the cammutation of the death sentence passed on Manly and whether the Chief Justice had made any recommendation. He added that as Manly was married and- could : not have married Miss Cromarty the murder appeared to onlookers as a particularly cruel one. Mr. Cobbe said - the question was one which had: given the Department a great deal of concern. He had personally gone through all the papers and specialists had been "called in from mental hos-, pitals for the purpose of carrying out an examination. That examination dis-closed-a remarkable etate of affairs in connection with the past history of the man. Cabinet had come to the unanimous -decision that the case was not one for execution. The Right Hon. J. G. Coat'es: Was- there a judge's report. The'.Minister: The judge's "report simply gave a concise statement ol the facts. Mr. Cobbe added that he would have no hesitation in showing all the papeis connected with the case to any members who desired to examine them. Cabinet had no apology to make for its action.