THE PAPAKAIO MURDER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8335, 18 January 1907, Page 7

THE PAPAKAIO MURDER.

WAS THE CASE BJJNGLED? j The Dunedin Star, in a leading ar-, tide on the Papakaio murder, says:— j "The publshed allegations amount to j harges of blundering, bungling, and ineptness that in the absence of adequate explanation, must shake confidence*in the efficiency of the,police force of the colony, and create doubt as to the acumen and aptitude of some j of its components. We have caused I some enquiry to be made into the allegations deliberately made by our Oamaru contemporaries, and the result has satisfied us that there is need for explanation from the officers affected, and, indeed, for a searching enquiry into the whole conduct of the investigation of the murder. This seems to us to be especially desirable, because Of the exceptionally strong force employed upon the work. The facts lead to the conclusion that in this case numerical strength was a source of weakness, disputation, and jealousy operating detrimentally upon the effort to discover and bring to justice the perpetrator of the crime. It is indisputable that the house was entered by the police from the north on the morning of the 4th October, after it had been locked up by the Oamaru police on the previous evening, and that the entrance was effected by means other than the door. Our Oamaru contemporary is, however, in error in attributing this extraordinary violation of reason to Christchurch officials,' and in naming the chief detective as one of the offenders. As a matter of fact there had not been a sufficient opportunity for any Christchurch officer to reach the scene. We may say in passing that we are in pos-' session of the names of the officers concerned, but we do not deem it -desirable to give publicity to them at the present juncture. Our knowledge of police official etiquette may be at fault, but it appears to us to be a strange thing that officers located irr. other places should have made an incursion upon the scene without acquainting the officer in local charge of their coming. All we have set ourselves to do is" to detail the many facts as they appear, and leave to in authority the task of deter- v mining the measure and direction of blame for what certainly appears to have been a serious failure upon the part of the police to prove themselves equal to a grave occasion. There are other matters in connection with the conduct of the police , proceedings—the story of the missing razor case to wit —that lend confirmation 'to the allegation that ' the whole business was badly, managed, ahd emphasise, the need,of a full and searching enquiry. The statements that have been deliberately and definitely made must shake confidence in the police force of the colony, and it is imperative that measures should be taken to relieve the public mind of disturbing doubt." '.