STOLEN SHEEP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 227, 25 September 1934, Page 9

STOLEN SHEEP.

EAST COAST, MAORI.

MUTTON FOR NATIVE HUI. NOT «A GIFT FROM THE GODS" (From Our Own Correspondent.) TOKOMARU BAY, Saturday. Aβ long ae he lives, Wi Moeke, an East Coast Maori, will probably remember the mutton he thought was a gift from the gods, but which cost him in the end something over £7 10/ a carcase. • ■ For years it has been the practice of Maoris to canvass their friends when a hui, or native gathering, is imminent) and by assiduous cadging they usually collect more than sufficient "kai" to du their guests extremely well for a day or two. Moeke was approached by a lad called Billy, the son of Hotene Rehutai. Billy asked Wi Moeke for three fat sheep for a hui, and when Moeke had supplied them Billy took them off to the pa on a pack horse. AH went well until a complaint originated from the Native Department, Gisborne, as a result of which police inquiries were commenced, and Moeke appeared before justices of the peace at Ruatoria to face two serious charges. Messrs. I. S. C. Dalgairns and W. "W. Ludbrook, J.P.'s, were on the Bench, and the charges against Wi were that he stole two sheep at Whareponga on or about July 6, the property of some person or persons unknown, and, secondly, that on August 6 he was found in possession of sheep skins from which the cars had been removed. Sergeant Sparks, who has charge of the whole coast from Tolaga Bay over a front of more than 100 miles to beyond Cape Runaway, conducted the case for the police. In addressing the Bench he said that witnesses' statements disclosed that Moeke found two woolly fat sheep on his property. When asked by Rehutai for three sheep (through Billy) he killed these two strange sheep. Moeke's property adjoins Repo station, which is run by the Tuparoa development scheme, and it was suggested by the prosecution that the sheep ihad been the property of this undertaking. Having killed the sheep, Moeke had given them to Billy Rehutai, who had taken them to the pa. Accused pleaded guilty to both charges. On the lirst lie was fined £15 and costs, and on the second he was convicted and ordered to pay costs. As a result of Billy's complicity in the matter, he was charged with receiving stolen property. He had no option but to plead guilty, and was convicted and ordered to pay costs, having been more or less the tool of others.

In former years the Maori did not look upon theft in the same light as such an offence is viewed by the white man. He followed a happy-go-lucky policy that "what is mine ie yours— what is yours is mine." The unequivocal attitude of the Bench in this instance may serve as a deterrent in future, and although a certain type of Maori profes-ses dislike of the pakeha outlook, under such gentle persuasion he is likely to disappear.