VALIDITY OF A MAORI MARRIAGE

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 579, 6 August 1909, Page 7

VALIDITY OF A MAORI MARRIAGE

Hr■ •, AN.AUbKLAND.CAgE.'' • '"■;- '" V'i- (&y Teloßraph.-Spoorai .OojrresppridenU'-" '. o .''■■■•'■ '"■. /••>; Auckland, August il' '■ '■, Some tiitte'ago* a case in whioh the validity of a. Maori marriage . Was in , (iiiestipn was heard at-.the.' Police .Court by. Mr.i 0." C. Kettle, S.M. Olio Ngnpipi Was charged With wife dcs6rtion,' It was "alleged that he Was married according to -Native 'etistonij which principally consisted: in getting the consent' of the relatives of .the parties,' and:.that the iharriago W4s binding. v Tho defence was that Ngapipi was not married, even according tfl Maori custom: Tho cftsd , was .mentioned in the Police Court.yesterday,•when Mr. Kettle' Said ho had considered the qucstibh involved, artd it seomCd to him that the first considera-. tion was whether' thdEe Maori marriages' could bo;en*6reed, and the second whether this particular marriagd weS a ralid otto-ac-wording to' Maori ceremony. He wfiuld judgmOnt later.'. The ■necessity for' giving judgmeni! waSj howeyeri obviated by.a/statement being made in Court that the wife had only been concerned to gain maintenance fof the chi}d of the "alliance, and tho child had died since CasA was heard. QuoiS-' tions .by. the: Magistrate elicited that the' child had been to.lton away when it bodatae ill, to' bo'treated by a Msori prophet. .Tho, magistrate directed Subrlnspcctpr Hendry.to inquire ifltd the oitcumstaaios of the child's ,deaf£ '■'■.'. . •,. :;: -: ■''-' ' . -'V'-';.