THE CONFESSIONS. Wellington, February 9.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 191, 12 February 1887, Page 8

THE CONFESSIONS. Wellington, February 9.

EriOF.T> have beon made by ruy.self and other pressmen to secure copies of the confession of the Great Barriei murderers for publication, but ao far without success. Mr Teie states tbat the original statements are .•till at Dunedin, whither they were bent tor the perusal of the Executive Council, and that he nas no copies of the documents. Even if ha had the documents, he would be reluctant to give them publicity without the consent of other Minister?. I have,however, been fortunate enough to obtain from a iami otHcial source the general purport of the-e statements, and on compaiing the :o=ulc of my labours with the fragmentary precis of the statements which have already appeared in the columns of the tiTAR, and which were, no doubt, unearthed with great difficulty b\ youv reporters, I must admit that you hive been hitherto well informed, and there i« little now for mo to add. As the method adopted in obtaining them hid been somewhat irregular, the Executive, ia considering the case, took cogtii'Anco of all the statements that had been made by the prisoners, and ondeavoiued to establish a '* harmony" out of them when there were any conflicting assertions. Of course, thu principal interest in connection with these statements attaches to the portion descriptive of the actual killing of Taylor. Caffrey, in his amended confession, states that when he fired he did not lire at Taylor, but between the marde:sd man and Mrs Taylor, and Perm fired at the same time. This is the first 3hot That the prisoners believe took effect. When Perm 6red the second shot which took effect fatally, Taylor was l^ing across the door W3\ . According to Perm's version of the ail »ir he asked Caffrey why he did not put the o'J man out of pain, to which Caffrey replied that he could not, as the door was in the way and hi? revolver would not go off. Then it va' that Perm fired the fatal shot, and at the came time Caffrey 's revolver clicked — the inference being that he attempted to discharge it. I air. given to understand that the decision ci the Executive and of the Ministers a: Wellington, that the Governor should be recommended not to exercise the prerogative ol mercy, was unanimous.