CLAIM FOR RATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 132, 5 June 1923, Page 5

CLAIM FOR RATES.

AGAINST ORAKEI MAORI, j Quite nn interesting <■»* came ip-.re ; Mr! J. K. Wilson, B?M.. in >!.<■ Mag,,-! Urate's Court this mornm.u. »-ien t. u> . lOrakei Road Board claimed o recover from Otene Paul, of Orokei. the sum of i £8 3/S, which included £.i m/rt tor rates j owing, and £1 i, »* ii'ter.-st al the r«e , of 10 per cent. | .Mr. Armstead appeared for the Road, Board, while Paul eonrfuet.-d hi.- own i case. Otene Paul submitted thai l>.v a treaty j made in IS.V he wne not compelled to i pay rates. He read extracts from the • document, in which it stated that on certain lands at Orakei being given to the Crown l.y the Maoris, they wmild be exempt from rates. Jle also traversed the finding of a commission presided over by Sir Robert Stout, tho Chief Justice, in which he remarked that perhaps the land in question could not he rated. In giving judgment for the plaintiff Road "Board, the magistrate advised Paul to secure the services of a solicitor, then probably the question of whether the land was"ratable or not could be decided by the Supreme Court.