Wanganui Surprised At Manly’s Penalty

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1063, 29 August 1930, Page 1

Wanganui Surprised At Manly’s Penalty

GIRL’S MOTHER SPEAKS LETTER FROM PRISONER Special to THE SUN WANGANUI, Today. Great surprise was expressed here this morning on receipt of the news that Herbert Frederick Manly’s sentence had been commuted. Comparisons are being made between this case and that of Munn, in which circumstantial evidence was the biggest factor. ‘‘The commutation of Manly’s sentence means that New Zealand will never hang another mar ,” said a prominent public man. “It is hard to follow the reasoning of the Executive Council, though it must always be remembered that imprisonment for a long term will be a terrible punishment. Manly will always have his conscience.” Manly wrote to Mrs. Cromarty, mother of the murdered girl, almost immediately after sentence wag passed. She received the latter on the day the inquest w'as held. It begged her forgivenness for the deed, and Manly swore that he would repay the mother for her suffering. GIFTS FROM MANLY “But how can a mother forgive a man who has taken the flow'er of her family? How can he repay when he can never give back’ what he has taken from me?” The mother showed a reporter a silver-plated gravy boat. That, she i said, and a roller towel were the only j presents Manly gave her. • She spoke of the genuine kindness shown her by New Zealanders since j the happening, and said that people j could not do enough. “I know there have been a lot of rumours, with not an atom of truth in them. People talked and talked. I sat in a train beside one woman coming home from Palmerston, and she told me some terrible things about myself—that my husband was murdered, and his murderer had never been found. I can’t understand people; but if some of those who talked had been through what I have they wouldn’t say what they do.” TRIBUTE TO DAUGHTERS Mrs. Cromarty pays a great tribute to the way her daughters have worked, and stressed how dependent she had been on them since her husband died. The boy Stanley had very little employment in New Zealand, and Dora and Gladys were battlers. Dora landed wdth 19s in her possession and faced the world bravely to win through to quite a good position. Gladys was her mother’s favourite. , ... “That girl stuck to me, and did every mortal thing she could to help,” said Mrs. Cromarty, who has no intention of leaving New Zealand. REASONS FOR DECISION MEDICAL AND OTHER GROUNDS Press Association WELLINGTON, Today. It is understood that the death sentence in the Manly murder case was commuted on medical and other grounds.