THE MAORI MURDERER.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 June 1911, Page 2

THE MAORI MURDERER.

The legal execution of Tani Kaha, in Auckland, forms a fitting .expiation for a sordid murder, and comes as a. cold douche to the hysterical people who (have been crying out for a reprieve of the criminal, to Minister, Governor,, .and King;. If a seventeen-year-old boy commits a i murder, his crime is no less heinous than the crime of any septuagenarian murderer. People nowadays are actuated by a mawkish sentimentality in regard to murderers— always providing the murdered man is not related to them or amongst their friends. The law of the land ■wisely exacts a life for a life, and the fear of such consequences undoubtedly deters some hloodyminded criminals from going to extreme lengths. Now tha* Tani Kalia has paid the full penalty of .his -misdeeds his case well may be relegated to the back comers of men's minds. Incidentally, all sane-minded people must deplore the theatrical nature of the Press Association's belated report from Auckland, concerning the execution, which some horse reporter sent along to the metropolitan newspapers several hours after the hanging had been concluded:. The embroideries about the handsome •face of the murderer, and his tflrim faced executioner, and the fact that the whole proceedings from oe-11

door to the actual drop "took four minutes fifteen seconds and onefifth" well might have been snared the public. An earlier but briefer me.ssa.ge would have sufficed all needs. Of a verity there is need for the establishment in Auckland of the Chair of Journalism which some of the university authorities are"- disposed to sot up'.