THE CASE OF WALTER TRICKER.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 578, 18 May 1868, Page 2

THE CASE OF WALTER TRICKER.

REFUSAL OK TUK <i- AT iINT CAT TO CHANT AN INvUiRV. i (Irvin !li? T.VU:iv.t n a Inilvjioii'lfni, May a.) It is with a feeling of the greatest dis-; satisfaction and ivyot t’uat we learn; the decision A Cu* Ministry relative to; the case of :ho prisoner Walter Trick- : ev, which is contained in the following letter ad-uv.-sed to his Honor the Superintendent ; Colonial Secretary's O.Rce, VvVlirgion, Gth May, ISGS. Sir,— The Government have carefully fi-rsMeoM the j-übjoct. of the memorial; p-.v-onlcd by j our Honor to in’.- khuv Honey ; the Governor trout the seliL.rs at Ihingi-j filed, praying tii-.it fur!her inquiry may be! • instituted into the cas-- of the convi -i i . Trioker, and of your Honor’s !■ '.tor of: 23rJ March last relative thirofo, and ’navel • to state that the Governor iv.nn.-.l be ;iN•;

vised to iutorierc v. il'i the c.mi’i! ;;(cd sou-: ter.ce of punishment under which that convict is now confi .vJ in gucl, —l 3;arc, itc. T. IL ir.vrLTATx, For the Colonial t-ivi ary, llis Uonor the Superintendent, Wellington. A more just and reasonable request' could not Lave been made than that: of the Hangi:ik(-i memorialists. They' pointed out that Tricker was convictod, almost exclusively on the evidence o‘ a half-caste boy named Hamilton, who! swore that he saw the murder coin-' raitted in open day, at ten o'clock in the morning, within a few yards of a public main road. This boy a feu weeks before, when examined before the Coroner, had positively denied ah knowledge of the murder, and oulj came forward as Trickers accuse] when a large reward was offered fm the discovery of the perpetrator. Thej farther urged that the boy’s story wai of the most improbable character that in their opinion, as persons iho roughly acquainted with the Eangiti kei district, Tricker had proved ai alibi, and that it was impossible hr could have committed the murder a the time and in the manner alleged b;

the perjured half-caste. Finally, they pmntcd cut that though Thicker was convicted and sentenced to death, yet he was not executed, because the advisors of Sir George Grey, no fewer than four of whom were members of the legal profession, thought the case so doubtful that they refused to advise ids Excellency to have the capital pe- | unity indicted. It was, said they, a :course entirely without precedent that a Gri.'Fh subject should be deprived of inis liberty for life under such circumistances ; that is to say, under a sen fence commuted for no ether reason than because the Executive disbelieved the evidence on which the prisoner was convicted. “ Tricker,” they couEd with it resistible logic, “should ’.■ir’.mr have been banged or pardoned.” AV e certainly entertained a hope that the prayer of the memorialists would have been granted by the issue of a com miss ion of inquiry. For years ? he lUuigitikc-i people Lave called fur dm inquiry, and they did hope that this appeal to his Excellency Sir Geo. ; Dowcn w’ould not have been made pin vain. This anticipation lias not been realised. In curt, and scarcely courteous terms, they are informed “ that the Governor cannot be advised to interfere wirh the commuted sentence under which the convict is now confined in gaol.” The memorialists did not ask the Governor to interfere with the commuted sentence. They expressed a conviction “that if a commission with power to take, evidence upon oath were appointed to investigate the subject upon the spot where the transaction occurred, it would be made ■apparent that a case existed for the exercise of the prerogative of mercy, by granting a free pardon to Tricker.” The man’s liberation was not asked for, but an inquiry was demanded with the object of proving Ins innocence. The memorialists did not wish the

sentence to be interfere.! with because !hc// thought the man innocent,- but they urged that the whole facts pointed to the probability that an act of great injustice had boon done; that this would be proved on investigation, and that if it were, then the victim should i).> burger be allowed to suffer unmerited punishment. We think tiie Government have done a grievous .wrong in refusing to allow the inquiry. ; 'uch an investigation, properly cooiducted, would have set the whole ques--ii at rest one way or another. As :it is, there is no hope of anything being dons in the case of Thicker so long as the present Ministry remain in office ; ami those who think lie has been illegally and wrongfully convicted | must await the time when the Treasury benches will bo occupied by new iiacn, whose ears will not be closed to aui appeal for justice, such as that made ■by the merer rial:-is whose prayer has Teen refused.