THE KELLY GANG.

Temuka Leader, Issue 269, 6 July 1880, Page 2

THE KELLY GANG.

(Tuapeka Timed). The dispersion of the. Kelly , gang, ~ which was fully recorded in a lato number, is probably as satisfactory a piece of intelligence to law abiding citizens throughout Australia as Could readily bo imagined. When wo ooneidar the length ot time, oyer which an uninterrupted pursuit has. been kept up, the expense which has attended tihat pursuit, amounting, it is understood, to between L 30,000 and L 40,000, and last, but not least, the brutality of the crimes of which the outlaws have been guilty, * the feeling of satisfaction with which tk» close of . the career of . the malefactors will be received is not to be wondered at . If, as is said, the gang have some sympathisers in Victoria, go much the worse, say we, for the low tone of moral feeling existing in that colony. In Now Zealand the universal feeling was that simple justice and a sense of the personal security which should ba inseparable from a country unier the benign sway of Queen ,Victoria, alike demanded the extirpalion of .the wretched criminals who had committed so many cold blooded murders, som# of them apparently in the mew ~ wantonnesa of noalico. The tj»o Kellys, with H*rt and Byrne, murdered : three Victorian policemen on October 20th 1878. They were outlawed, end • price of LBOOO set on their heads. Binoe that time their career has been characterised by unparalelleci. daring and immunity from prnlshmeut. But we bad nth in the co dj- lot that telr us that"" . The mills of God grind slowly, But they grind exceeding small The temporary halo of romance with which the wretched story of the Kellys has been invested in the m'nda of of the more impressionable .and insx- . perienced of our population Jhas now- . been effectually dispelled ; and with ■ the close of the career of .the Kelly gang all good men and true will sincerely hope ; has come the close of the story of th»V bushrangers #f Australia.