The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1880.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 68, 4 December 1880, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1880.

THE OPUNAKE MUEDEE.

I« onx last issue we gave a very fuD report of the whole of the coroner's inkuest at Opunake, and our own correspondent forwarded by telegraph translations of the letter of farewell, and also a condensation of the confession of the murderer. We have to apologise to some of those concerned for onaiifcing to record our hearty recognition of the remarkably able conduct of the prosecution by Ser-geant-Major Bullen, assisted by Sergeant James. The omission on our part would be of very little consequence, as any one reading the report of th© inquest oould not fail to be impressed with the remarkable mass of circumstantial evidence which had been obtained, and carefully arranged, in the course of a few hours. The amount of labor which its collection necessitated can hardly be appreciated by any one who has never undertaken to hunt up evidence and witnesses at short notice. It cannot be denied that there was more circumstantial evidence produced than would be required to convict any man. More than a word of praise is also due to the Armed Constabulary for the clever way in which the arrest was ac omplished. Constable Knowles, who first arrived at the pah, on finding Tuhi, told him that he was wanted down at the redoubt to get in some young horses. Tuhi, however, refused to come, although he was offered £1 reward if he succeeded in securing the horses. Meantime Bom& other troopers came up, and he was then informed that he would have to come. On the constables dismounting he said he would go without resistance. Strangely enough, they made a mistake in omitting to search the prisoner.

We publish in another column a full 1 copy of the murderer's confession, from which it would appear that the deed was simply a momentary impulse. Such an explanation is quite in accordance with other precedents. There are cases on record in medical jurisprudence where a patient has presented himself to a dootor and told him that it was with the utmost difficulty that he could restrain himself from killing persons at times, simply for the mere desire or lust for bloodshed, and , has asked for advice how such a fearful [.impulse could be restrained. In some countries this impulse to shed blood is so well recognised that it has a speoial form of expression, as in the Mexican phraße, " gusto de matar." In New Zealand we )ja<3 quite recently to record the result of a South Sea Islander's determination to " run a muck," killing who ever he happened to meet. Mad men are frequently afflicted with a mania for murder. In fact, we remember to have heard a naval officer relate how a Scotch carpenter who had been a little deranged in Ma intelleot, but was regarded as a harmless lunatic, • effectually cleared the decks of a man-of-war in a few seconds. The mad man suddenly picked up an adze, and saying, "To all whom it may concern : this is the axe of death," made a vicious blow i at the man next him.

While fully admitting the possibility of this murder being due to a sudden murderous impulse, it cannot be denied that there are other more likely motives underlying the only one as yet admitted by the murderer. It is quite impossible to believe, for instance, that Tuhi would have felt the least inclination to butcher a . Maori woman, if he had met one under

the same circumstances and at the same time as be met and killed Miss Dobie. In fact, the feeling expressed by the Maoris on the coast plainly shows this, for they say, " If Tuhi had killed a white man, especially a surveyor or an A.C., we should have sympathised with hinlj but as he has slain a woman we are indifferent." Tliey do not, ag a rule, profess to feel any regret for the murder. There can be little doubt that TuM has his full share of the instinctive dislike which the native bears against the conquering and intruding race. It is strange, hut none the less true, that many of the Maoris on the Plains knew and said quite confidently when they heard of the murd t that a Maori had done the deed, some time before the evidence against him had been brought out at the inquest. Although hitherto nothing has transpired which would indicate that the murderer had any desire to achieve notoriety, and to be known among the Maoris as another Hiroki, the idea of doing so must surely have occurred to him. It is just possible that Tuhi had some personal grudge against Major Goring or his family, which Tuhi has not yet owned to. Despite Tuhi's confession, the chances are that his motives were highly complex, and it is not in the least likely that he would be able to analyse them himself or even to confess the main ones, giving due prominence to each.