OCEAN ISLAND MURDER

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26120, 24 May 1950, Page 3

OCEAN ISLAND MURDER

EXECUTION POSTPONED FURTHER INFORMATION TO BE INVESTIGATED (From Our Own Correspondent.) SUVA, April 19. On the afternoon before the day set for the execution of Tai Shek, a stay of execution was announced yesterday by the Fiji Government. He had been convicted by the Supreme Court of Fiji for the ’ murder of Thomas Arthur Allen at Ocean Island in April, 1949. and an application for leave to appeal was heard by the Privy Coun- ■ cil on March 29 and was dismissed. A petition, signed largely by Chinese residents, was then presented to the Governor of Fiji, who. after taking the advice of the Executive Council, directed that the law should take its course. In the announcement of the postponment of the execution, it was officially stated that further information connected witL the murder had come to the notice of the Government, and required investigation. Mr Allen, engineer for the British Phosphate Commission at Ocean Island, and his wife were brutally murdered. At the trial, Tai Shek was not charged with the murder of Mrs Allen. Mr and Mrs Allen were attacked while in bed, apparently asleep. Mrs Allen's body was found near the telephone, where apparently she had gone to summon assistance. Both bodies were hacked in a manner indicating a fierce assault. Detectives from "Brisbane finger-printed every resident on Ocean Island. The accused was committed for trial at Suva, but, because of technical irregularities in the manner in which the Lower Court evidence was taken at Ocean island, the accused, detectives, and witnesses had to return to Ocean Island for another hearing in the lower court before Tai Shek could be properly committed for trial by the Supreme Court of Fiji.