LAND FIT FOR HEROES

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 2560, 18 December 1924, Page 7

LAND FIT FOR HEROES

Old Soldier Becomes a Murderer

PASSING RICH ON £32 A

YEAR

[By Electric Cable —Copyright.] [Aust. and N.Z. Cable Association.] (Received Wednesday, 10.45 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 15.

Mr. Justice Sharman. in sentencing to death Arthur Robert Canham, aged fifty-one, a paper-maker, for murdering his wife, stated: “My view is this man's moral self-control has been broken down by his war service and subsequent misfortunes. I shall report thus to the Home Secretary.” Canham gave evidence that he had served in the South African and Great Avars and had a pension of £S a quarter, of which he gave his wife £7 10/-. He had had no regular Avork for two and a-half years. His Avife had recently been nagging OA'er his failure to earn something. On the morning of the crime, he went in search of Avork, but Avas told he Avas too old and only fit for the dust-heap. He returned, and found no breakfast had been prepared.

“My wife told me to clear out, and I lost my temper and struck her with a hammer. I then tried suicide Avith gas fumes." Canham concluded: “That’s what you get for serving your country.”