WELLINGTON.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 566, 12 October 1869, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(feom cub ovrs coseespondent.) Sept. 27. Since my last letter, the trial of Hetariki, Rewi, and Matene for High Treason, has been concluded. The fact of their conviction and sentence to death I have informed you of by telegraph, and a very few more words will dispose of this case—the first of the kind which has ever occurred in this Colony. The evidence which was taken during the four days of the trial was highly interesting, trom the fact of its throwing light on the first movements of Te Kooti after his landing at Poverty Bay, and at the same time it was fearfully conclusive as regards the prisoners. Proofs of two of them—Hetariki and Rewi havin» landed with Te Kooti and of their having participated in nearly all the acts of that rebel in carrying on war against the constituted authorities and in murdering persons in the service of the G-overnment, were given by Maoris, half-castes, and Europeans, by women, and by soldiers. Widows of our faithful allies detailed with fearful distinctness the horrors of a " koriri " (war expedidition) of Te Kooti's band ; and one recital in particular, told in simple touching language, of the burial by a wife and mother of the mutilated remains of a husband aud son made us all, with the exception of the three prisoners, feel the " one to'jch of nature." The eyes of the old man of the trio seemed to sparkle with a vindictive brightness at the" recital, and, he seemed to glory in the recollection of the barbarities he had committed. Wheu the cases for the prosecution and the defence were closed, on Thursday His Honor Mr Justice Johnston summed up the evidence in a clear and able speech which lasted nearly four hours, and the jury, after retiring for a quarter of an hour, returned a verdict of " Guilty without one dissentient." His Honor then caused the prisoners to be asked if they had anything to say. Hetariki and Rewi said " No," but Metane said that" he wished to say that hs had fought for and remained with Te Kooti o?ily because he was told that if he attempted to leave him he should be shot ; and that in former times he had fought for the Government." His Honor told him that Lis plea should be forwarded to His Excellency, and then he [rat on the black cap and said—"Hetariki Te Oikan, Rewi Tammui Toti Tori, and Matene Te Karo, after a long and. patient trial the jury who have tried you have fouud that you are severally guilty of the crime with which you have been charged, a crime which, in all countries where there is any established society is considered to be one of the gravest and most wicked, because its object is to strike at the very foundation of society, and of all social prosperity, and to make life and society, and all that men hold most dear, unsafe ; it is therefore deemed one of the 1 very greatest crimes, and although 1 you have not perhaps received such I an amount of education as to make I tiie magnitude of your offence fully a apparent to you, yei there are no men, 1 or society of men, hut are aware that ■ such acts as you have joined in coir- 9 bitting are wicked in the extreme, m and are therefore deserving of the S very highest punishment. It may be m that there exist men more wicked and m more powerful in their wickedness m than you were, and, that men under 3 whom you noting were such men; 9 and I need hardly say perhaps that 9 such men will make the very name of 9 your race accursed. No man can, IH am sure, for one moment doubt that 9 your crime deserves the greatest pun- 9 ishment that the law can inflict. 9 There cannot be men more wicked or 9 more confirmed in their wickedness 9 than yourselves, except perhaps those 9 under whose directions you acted. flh The law which I am bound to adminis-9jj ter leaves me no alternative, and it is 9J my duty to pass upon von the highest 9| sentence the law allows. The sentence ■ that I am about to pass on you is no *9| my word, but the word of the law. ISj must now proceed to pass upon yon, and each of you, that awful seutenceafe which the law has prescribed for thepfe offence which you have been found9| guilty, and I need hardly say that that9B offence has been highly aggravated,9J| not only by the long period in whicu9jf you have resisted the law, hut also _bj9S| the inhuman barbarities —barbaritieMH which have shocked and horrified sO *JHj ciety which you have committea9j| during that resistance. The sentencwßl of the Court. on you, and each of y OP MI is—that you be drawn on a hurcue t<™| the legal place of execution, and thewJ be hanged by the neck until you a '|Hl dead; that your heads be then severedßH

and your bodies be divided into four quarters, to be disposed of as His Excellency may deem fit. I am, however, sure that nothing will be done but the hanging. And now way that Almighty God, whose name you have 60 often profaned, have mercy on your guilty souls." It is generally believed that only the two, Hetariki and Rewi, will be hanged, and that the sentence of Matene, in consideration of his plea, will be commuted to penal servitude for life. The executions of the two are expected to take place in a fortnight, or as soon as the writs can be received back from his Excellency, to whom they must be sent for signature. To-day the trial of Wi Tamarana for murder was'proceeded with, and late this afternoon the jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged. To-morrow another Maori will bo tried for high treason, and from the evidence collected it is believed he will also be found guilty and sentenced as the three were on Thursday. Oct. 2. I have informed you already by telegraph that Wi Tamarana, who was sentenced on Monday last to be hanged for a series of crimes which he had committed on the East Coast, committed suicide on "Wednesday last in his cell. He appears to have enquired carefully whether there was any chance of his life being spared, and finding there was not he immediately put an end to himself. Eor this purpose he used a saddle strap he wore as a belt. He first passed the end through the buckle loosely, this forming a kind of running noose. He then, with worsted picked out of his blanket, fastened the end of the strap in a chink of the door, and putting his head in the noose he knelt down and forcibly strangled himself. The determination of the man may be judged from the fact that at any moment he could easily have sprung to his feet and released himself. He was a powerfully made muscular man, and was a fearfully crimestained wretch.