EXPENSES OF TANGI

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23971, 11 June 1943, Page 3

EXPENSES OF TANGI

COMPENSATION COURT AWARD JUDGE’S DEFENCE OF CUSTOM “ The Press ” Special Service AUCKLAND, June 10. A worker’s compensation case in which the parents of a Maori, fatally injured by accident arising out of his employment, were allowed £SO as tangi expenses in addition to compensation of £156 ig reported in the Gazette Law Reports. The action, Ncri Kihi and another against Spence and others, was heard by Mr Justice O’Regan in the Compensation Court at Gisborne. Mr Justice O’Regan said that the Supreme Court had held that the expenses of a tangi in connexion with the death of a native chief were properly part of the funeral expenses, and so were payable out of the personal estate of the deceased. The authority was a case in which Mr Justice Sim allowed £3O for funeral expenses, including the tangi, the deceased having been a worker. No Distinction of Rank “Thus it would appear,” said Mr Justice O’Regan, “that there is no distinction to be made in this respect as between chieftain and tribesman. The pakeha preserves many customs which have come down from our barbarous ancestors, and Christianity has never sought to eradicate them. The practice of public lamentation for the dead obtains among many peoples; indeed, the tangi resembles closely a funeral custom still observed in parts of Ireland and Scotland, the c igin of which certainly antedates Christianity. “One of the purposes of the tangi is to unite in permanent friendship those who have shared a common sorrow, and hence it, seems to me a wise policy to preserve it. No doubt civilisation has made it necessary that the Maori should abandon many of his old customs, but,! can see nothing in some of them, the tangi and the poi dance for, example, incompatible with civilisation nad Christian practice. Two Pigs and a Cow “As it is desirable not to break with the past utterly, it follows that as many as possible of the ancient customs of a people should be perpetuated. Accordingly, I have decided to allow the maximum amount, £SO, for the funeral expenses, including the tangi.” The funeral expenses, £64 4s Bd, had been claimed. Of this amount £46 4s 8d was in respect of the tangi, the items including two pigs at £3 10s each, a cow at £7, a cord of firewood costing £4 10s, and six bags of potatoes at £9. The balance was for bread and groceries. There was no account for intoxicating drink of any kind, it was stated by Mr Justice O’Regan, nor was there any suggestion that the tangi was other than a decorous manifestation of grief in accordance with Maori custom.