The Decision of the Executive Announced to the Prisoners.

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

The Decision of the Executive Announced to the Prisoners.

Thl csci-ion of the Executive that the law she aid be permitted to take its courae in t'ra ca=a of tho Sroat Barrier murderers was ar.nounced to tho condemned men by tLe gaol officials this morning, and they took the announcement of their fate very quietly. They were subsequently seen by the yaol chaplain, the Rev. J. S. Hill, %>!ic vac 3urprieed to find from their (i9Meaaour and conversation that they were r^nectiy resigntd. It 13 believed that thou2h every effort; haa been made to keep from the prisoners any inkling of v. hat was going on outside, they h:A be-on apprised oE the fact of the ending of the petition. They told Mr Hill that the decision of Hir- Excollency'a ari*.i?tu vras v. rhat they had expected all aljiu*.

Ariangeinonts for the Execution. The execution of Caffrey and Perm, which ha- been fixed for February 21st, will take pl.ice at 8 a.m We understand that tho (tovtrumont have made arrangemtnta to furwwa both executioner and scaffold from the South, the executioner being a person who* has already had previous experience at tho g;vue?ome business. The criminals will ba executed simultaneously,

Wellington, February 9, The " Time3 " says : "It would have bean grossest scandal and miscarriage of justice if the miscreants had been allowed to escape tho punishment the law awards for «uch a crime. , Had any other decision been come to, ib is undeniable that its effect would have beeu disastrous, and would have been tantamount to a proclamation that the crime of deliberate murder might be committed without "incurring serious «-isk. If the death sentence were remitted in this ca3e it is hard indeed to conceive any ine-tance in which its execution would be justifiable. The murder was of a peculiarly deliberate, cold-blooded and atrocious character, calling for tho relentless infliction of exemplary punishment, and not the fainte?t scintilla of suspicion has been shown for the exercise of the Royal clemoucj."

Dunedin, February 9. The "Star" says it highly approves of the decision of the Executive in this caee, as a more cowardly and deliberate murder than that at tho Great Barrier has seldom been committed. If the sentence had been commuted it would have been equivalent to the abolition of capital punishment in this lony, , '