MORAL STANDARD

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 February 1947, Page 3

MORAL STANDARD

ONE CODE FOR MAORI AND PAKEHA “There cannot be two standards, one for the Maori and the other for the pakeha. Maoris enjoy all the benefits that the pakeha does, and, therefore, they must come up to the pakeha standards or forfeit those privileges.” Mr. Justice Cornish said this in the Supreme Court at Wellington, when William Waipuka, a Maori, aged 21, came up for sentence. He had pleaded guilty at Masterton to unlawful carnal knowledge. Counsel for the prisoner, Mr. F. J. Kember, contended that Maoris had less resistance to alcohol than Europeans. The accused had been drinking before the offence was committed, and as it was only an isolated lapse, a period of probation would meet.the case. “I cannot hear argument based only on the fact that a man is a Maori,” said his Honor, adding that he had to consider what the general effect would be of any sentence he might impose. It would never do for the idea to go but that offences of the kind to which the prisoner had pleaded guilty were to be treated lightly. . A sentence of two years’ detention in a Borstal institute was imposed.