SEQUEL TO A TANGI. A QUESTION OF COSTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 36, 12 February 1908, Page 7

SEQUEL TO A TANGI. A QUESTION OF COSTS.

SUPREME COURT ACTION. 1 Tha cost of the tangi over the late TWahau Mahupuku was tho Eitbjrct ofVargument ;n; n the Supreme Court »..- day},before Mr. Justice Cooper. Mahupuhu\ who will be lemembered as an old ant} respected Wairarapa chief, died early in. 1904, and the tangi lasted for three or four months. Sometime- afterwards D.\ P. Loasby, storekeeper, of Groytov/n, '-suad the Public Trustee as administrator of the e&tate, for £111 i 3s 6d, for gaods sold and delivered in ; connection with the tangi. The account covered a, period from 15th January to 30th May, 1904, and included in the items were charges for tobacco, cigarette papers, and tobacco, a pipo in case, Jeyes^e fluid, >V>ng-handled .shovel, soap,' lady's shoes, "an oilskin, and so on. It vas stated by'xArete Mahupuhu, one of the widows oi deceased, that she gave the , order to 'Loasby for the goods on 10th April, 1907* Mr. W. P. Jr.mes, S.M., sitting at tMastorton, gave judgment in favour of tho plaintift for £92 U 6d, deducting the sum of £19 2s for such irregular items as those mentioned above. Agninat that decision the Public Trustee appealed, and, the question argued to-day was as to whether the administrator of the estate of a deceased- • native, was liable for the cost of tlie tangi, or whether, according to Maori __ custom, visitors to a tangi do not bring a certain portion of the food required. • Mr. Blair appeared for the Public Trustee, and Mr. H. D. Bell,. X.C, with him Mr. Ostler, for the respondent. NATIVE CUSTOMS. At the original hearing some- interesting evidence was given. Chief Judge Jackson Palmer, of the Native Lands Court, said that the ancient custom of | Ihe Maori people in regard t<> the esjJ pe-nses of a tangi was that the visitors brought presents ajid food. t The deceased's tribe would also make. presents of food. To make deceased's liable to pay for the tangi eiperises was quite contrary to the ancient' Maori ens- .' torn. The modem Maori .custom was btill foi the visitors to bring pre^nts, i partly in food and partly in money. Visitors would not remain if they co^ild not contribute to tho expenses. "It would rather be an insult," he added, "for the visitors to come without bringing their shore ikf the sufficient supply of the food for the tangi." j The Nativs evidence -was different. ! Arete Mahupuku said, inter alia : It wss not a suitable tangi, There should have been moro food. Visitors do not bringfooci It is not right for visitors ,to bring food. I never heard of visitors taking food. ,' Te Tiatpa Nghina, _ a chief of the , Ngatiapa tribe,; said it would not be right for nim to take food. It was tho custom of ancestors not to take food. , It was right for the estate to supply the food. Ihaia Hutana gave similar evidence : "They bring goods, mats, and weapons,'' he said, -"but do noi bring food. If they bring food it makes ths hapu look | small or low." The cost of the 1 tangi was j generally paid out of deceased's money. . "Tangi and burial were," he. said, "all one ceremony. In old times no one knew when the chief was buried, and the- tangi went on." Two ether naLive chiefs gave evidence to the same effect. (Left sittinc.) ' •