m REPRIEVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14701, 19 June 1911, Page 7

m REPRIEVE.

jaHI KAKA'S crime.

Hi DEATH PENALTY. DECISION OF EXECUTIVE. LENGTHY DELIBERATIONS. M tE leoe,vth.— COMIBSI'ONDENT.] Wellington, Sunday. ' M cue of thti yoUng Maori Tahi Kaka ' w curler sentence of death in the Auckland goal for the murder of an old gumJitger''named John Freeman, at Puhihi was further considered by the Exocu- {•,. yesterday. At the conclusion of the ■ generations the Hon. James Carroll Acting-Primp Minister) stated that it had fan decided' to reaffirm the previous decision of the Executive that the law must ■ take its course. Tahi Kaka must, therelore, P aV tno '"'" P f,naltv of llis crime The Executive, under the presidency of His Excellency the Governor (Lord Islington), met in the morning, and it was so t until five o'clock that a decision was arrived at. The numerous telegrams, .letter's and petitions which had been forwarded to Wellington on behalf of the condemned youth had all to bo dealt with, and every detail of evidence had again to bo gone into. It is officially stated that no circumstances which could be considered favourable to the- prisoner were excluded from the deliberations of the Executive.

jfHE GOVERNOR'S WARRANT.

COMING BY POST.

The sheriff (Mr. R. Coring Thomas) received official : advice by telegraph on Saturday evening that the sentence of death was to bo carried out. The, Governor's warrant for the execution has not, yet been delivered to him, and as the document can be forwarded only by post, it cannot reach Auckland before Tuesday morning. Section sof the Criminals Execution Act provides that within seven days after receiving a notice that the Governor will not interfere with the sentence the sheriff shall execute it.

APPEAL TO. THE KING.

ARCHDEACON CALDER'S INTENTION

. In view of the decision of the Executive, it is now proposed to carry the reprieve movement a step further by appealing to the King. Archdeacon Calder, vicar or 'All Saints', Ponsonby, stated last night that if no one else did so he would this morning communicate with His Excellency the Governor, asking him to forward a cable to His Majesty, praying for Ta-hi Kaka's njrievß. The archdeacon also proposes to j&e himself in communication with Bishop ■finssley, who is now at Whangarei.

The prisoner, since he was sentenced, has teen visited daily by the Rev. E. C. Budd (the gaol chaplain) and by the Rev. 11. 'A. Hawkins (Maori missioner).