THE KAIW ARRA. MURDER. VERDICT OF GUILTY. SENTENCED TO DEATH. Wellington, July 16.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 386, 20 July 1889, Page 4

THE KAI W ARRA. MURDER. VERDICT OF GUILTY. SENTENCED TO DEATH. Wellington, J uly 16.

The jury returned to Court after an absence of four hours and a quaitcr, and brought in a vordict of " Guilty." In answer to the usual question whether he had anything to say why sentence should nob bo pronounced, prisoner (Chemi&) said : I— " Yes, I ha\e a tew woids. , 1 reckon 1 have boon treated by the detectives very badly. They say they never found any powder-flask in my place. 1 say thoie sv.is one there on the right .hand side, just close to the shot-pouch, and the police could have picked up either just ac easily '< as one. They also say they nc\er kuv any quail, bub I can assure your Honor thcio were four of them in the back room in a tin I had wads for my trim, and I never iu-ed paper to wad with in my lite. As to the bullets, a blacksmith named (iibsou ga\o ten of them to me to shoot pigir, and I* hope your Honor will lind out the truth of what I am now saying tomorrow or somo time. The detectives also say they never saw a wad-cutter, but it was close to the shot-pouch, and I icpeat that the detectives have treated me very badly. I'm willing to the now, or swing at the gallows Lo mot row, but I say lain innocent ot tho ci ime. Jill I cra\c for is my wite and children. For myself 1 care nothing, because 1 am innocent." His Honor then put on the black cap. He upptaicd"much .iflcctcd as ho fcaid . "[ do not feel it my duty to say much, but I may the few v. oids \on have just; uttered about the pouch will, in my opinion, go far to con Him in ,the minds of most people tho fact of jour guilt. Ido hod behcxe for a moment that the police conspned in your death. It it? not for me to cxpicsb an opinion in concunencc with the verdict which the jury have returned. Tho prosecution has been imo^t careful and fair, and the defence able, and no point in your fa\our has been lost." The death sentence was then pionounccd. The jury had been ab-scnt a little o\er fora horns, and the Court was ciow-ded tho wholo time. The prisoner maintained his cool and determined look to the last, and never exhibited the slightest change. His wite, who has been in Coutt throughout the tiiul, natuuilly quite broke down, and while sentence wa& being pionounccd was sobbing bitterly in the corridor. The verdict excited considerable surprise and discussion, veiy lew porsons having expected a conviction, especially as hour after hour went by and the jury did not letmn. Tho police authorities themselves expected Chcmih would be acquitted. The damning fact was the paper s-o carefully extracted from the gunshot wound, which diligently and minutely pieced together, fitted the fragments gathered from the goiscand bushes by the 10-idside, and that the section thus obtained corie.-ponded exactly with the torn copy of the same issue of tho "Evening Post ' taken from the prisoner's house. Chemis's counsel was not in Court to-day. Ho had been unwell previous to the tiial, and the strain had made him too ill to appear.

WELLINGTON" POLICE CENSUREDThe " Times " this morning has a leader on the Fvai\\«m'a murder. It says: "The verdict undoubtedly came as a very great siupiise to the public general^. Jt was entirely unexpected, nob because Chemis was deemed innocent of the charge, for most people believed him guilty, but becau&e it was thought that fche jury would convict on evidence which alone was obtainable, and that the testimony was exclusively of circumstantial nature was nothingto itfedisciedit, for it has been well said that circumstantial evidence, if complete, is the strongest of all proof, but the prevalent feeling unquestionably was and is that the ciicuipstantial evidence in this case was not free from weak li.iks and doubtful points." After troing over the whole ot the evidence the "leader" says it waf- no fault of che police that theie was any evidence at all. Nothing at all, it says, -seems to have been done till about the middle of the next day, and the gun was not found until the .second day after the murder. Surely this was trifling in a most scandalous way with a fi ightful ciime.'"

PETITION TO THE UOYEKNOR. A petition, headed by IS". Fein ancle/, Italian lcsident, to his Excellency, is in couit«e of signatme, piaying the clemency* of the Ciown in tlie case of the condemned man Chcnn.-.

The Rev. Dr. C'ameion, who icccnfrly •spent a holiday in thi& colony travelling by way ot Rolonui and overland wheie piacticable to the Bluff, tlius writes to a .Sydney paper : — We weie much impiessed, noc only by the wonders of Now Zealand, but aKo with its va&fc capabilities. The Public YVoikb Department may ha\o been lavish in their outlay, but they ceitainly have done wondeis m the way of opening up the country and providing facilities for travel and foi the carrying on of commeicc. No>v Zealand ioa land o! gioat heights, and also of gi eat depths. The heightb can l>o ?een and measmed ; but the depths — who can tell how great they arc? If Swi«s scenery excites the admiiation ot tourist*, if SootchHighland scenery has its peculiar charm, men need not tiavel to the otliei side of the ■norld to see them; they may find them newer at hand. New Zealand contains 66,000,000 acres, of which 19,000,000 have been sold ; 13,000,000 are reeogni&ed as belonging to the Maoiis, and of the lemainder nine oi ten millions consist oi lakes and batten mountain top«. We were pleased to sec the friendly iclations which appear to e^i^t between the Euiopcani- and the Maoiis, of whom over 40,000 s>Ull remain. We had Jicaid not a little of prevailing depression and of bad times in Now Zealand, but thoro was nothing met our \iew to give any other impie&sion than that ol a bubt-tantial and well-to-do people. There seems jrood ground for the prevailing belief that New Zealand is destined to become? ere long, a great, flouiishing country. The vital statistics oC Melbourne and suburbs show a large increase ot deaths during the present year as compared with 1887 and 1888. In' ISB7 tho deaths from typhoid numbered 266, in the succeeding year, 231, and in tho present year 430. The deaths fiom diphtheria in 1887 were 24, in the following year 52, and this year 107. The returns of typhoid fever for tho past iortnighlshow a di&tincb falling off. The oases reported for the whole colony number 135, the deaths being 21. Tho number of cases of diphtheria was 72, and the deaths 24. The question of market accommodation for fruitgrowers has been before the New South Wales Legislature.the proposal being that new and extensive markets should be provided in a. central position, with rail and water accommodation ; and that a site .should be at once provided for the purpose. It was pointed out that there were 5.48S fruitgrowers in tho colony, and that in 1887 no less than 549,336 cases of fruit were brought to the markets ot Sydney by vail, j 'of tho ostimatcd \alue of £137i334. |