MR BRYCE AND TE KOOTI.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1656, 15 February 1883, Page 3

MR BRYCE AND TE KOOTI.

The following information was teleSraphed by the Wellington corresponent of the Herald on Tuesday night :— Meeting of the Executive Council. —The Amnesty Issued. A special meeting of the Executive Council was held this afternoon, when the Governor formally approved and signed the proclamation of a general amnesty, which ' was published in a Supplementary Gazette at seven this evening. The amnesty includes all without exception, but with reservation that it extends only within the limits of the Amnesty Act, the preamble of which refers to offences of a " more oc less political character." Consequently it would not extend to such cases as those of Hiroki or Wmiata, but would include Te Kooti and Wetere. I believe that the amnesty also includes Epiha, who was captured in Waikato some time ago, and sentenced at the Supreme Court to imprisonment for shooting a surveyor at the Thames. I fancy you will soon hear something about Mokau now. The Proclamation. The following proclamation appears in the Gazette, issued to-night : — " Whcieas by an Act of the General Assembly of Now Zealand, the short title whereof is the Amnesty Act, 1882. After reciting that on several occasions theretofore the aboriginal inhabitants of the colony of New Zealand had been in insurrection against Her Majesty's authority ; that offences of various kinds, more or less of a political character, had, during such insunectioiia, or consequent thereon, been committed by Maoris ; that disturbances of the public peace, and breaches of the law of various kinds had recently taken place on the West Coast of the North Island of the colony, ar.d that the state of the colony was then such as to justify an amnesty being proclaimed for tuch offences as aforesaid, and it was expedient to do so. It is among other tiling enacted that it shall be lawful for the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, by proclamation in the Gazette, to declare an amnesty for such offences as aforesaid, and that such amnesty may be extended to all offences, and to all Maoris for certain offences, and certain Maoris may be excepted from the operation thereof, and that the effect of such proclamation shall be to except the Maoi is not excepted from the operation thereof from all informations, indictments, prosecutions and criminal proceedings whatsoever for or in relation to any such offences as aforesaid against the law committed during the continuance of any such insurrection, or on the West Coast as aforesaid, or connected therewith, or resulting therefrom, .and it is also enacted that the term ' Maoris ' means the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand, and includes half-castes and their descendants by Maoiis, and whereas it is expedient that effect should bo given to the said Act in the manner hereinafter set forth. Now, therefore, I, William Francis Dinmmond .Tei vois, the Governor of the Colony ot New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the power and authority vested in me by the hereinbefore in pmt recited Act, and by and with the consent of the Executive Council do hereby pioclaim and declaie an amnesty for the offences in the .said Act mentioned, and do also proclaim and declare that the amnesty shall, subject to the provisions of the said Act, extend to all offences and to all Maoris, and that, subject as aforesaid, there shall be no exception fioni the operation theieof."