WILL KAKA BE EXECUTED?

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10264, 16 June 1911, Page 5

WILL KAKA BE EXECUTED?

ANOTHER PETITION. MAORIS ASK FOR REPRIEVE. Following is the translation of & petition being largely isagned by Wellington Maoris for preseratation to His EsceHeney the Governor:—

J "O Pa, we greet you. We greet I you in this the year and the month' , which Eas* ibeen arranged - 'for the Ooroiniaitaon of our kind King, George the Fifth. May you live for ever, also may our King live forever under the protection of our Great FaJ ther in Heaven. "(1) 0 Pa, this is a petition from us, from your Maori (people, from the people wlio are loyal subjects to the person and the flag of our King, wihom. we love, having seen him in our own country, on behalf of Tahi Kiaha, in whose case we are start-led to hear of the decision arrived at by your Council of Advisers, 'tthat .this boy is to be put to dearth .V "(2)'"' lit is not, 0 Your Excellency, for our petition to restore him to life, hut it is for you, for your love for your Maori people of New Zealand, that alone can save the life J of this hoy who is but seventeen years of age. "(3) We entreat you to 0 our Airiki, O our Father,- that quite recently there have been acts of cold-iblooded murder committed by ■•> pakeha, but those murderers were not put .to death; they have been spared—they are alive now; in the- case of this Maori boy, he is to be put to death. In this a hideous anomaly present's itself. "(4) W© are in absolute . accord with.-the good, humane, and loving ' recommendation of the jury which tried the case and which was in a position to know all the facts. The decision of that jury is: That Tahi Kaha was guilty of the crime., but he was strongly recommended to meroy owing to his youth. That decision, Your Excellency, was based on brotherly love—on love which is the most, admirable thing in this world. 0 Pa, is it to be said thai the Mood of this hoy is. to be spilled to. add a zest to the Coronation fasti viiiies? Surely not. . "Your petitionee therefore pray that the death sentence be commuted, and that this boy be recommended to the care of the Government and placed in someinstitution for a period, where and moral discipline will .be scx the future attended so long .as your advisers deem necessary. Long live the King.; may the Lord preserve him."