NATIVE CHIEF IN TROUBLE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 7 September 1932, Page 5

NATIVE CHIEF IN TROUBLE.

HOSPITALITY AT GOVERNMENT’S EXPENSE. DEFALCATIONS OVER A SEVEN YEAR PERIOD. (By Telegraph —Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Waratana Renata Ngahana, aged 37, a nephew of the late Hen Heu Tukino, chief of the Ngatituwharetoa tribe, pleaded guilty befox-e Mr Page S.M., to-day, to the theft as a servant of £14&3 4s 5d from the Native Trust Department. He was stated to be a member of the paramount chiefs of New Zealand and to have very considerable interests in lands in the Tekano district. Counsel intimated that the accused might later be in a position to make a certain offer of restitution 'to the Crown. An officer of the Department, in giving evidence, said that the accused had given every possible assistance in tracing the misappropriations, -which extended from September, 1925, to July of this year. But for his assistance, it -would have been very difficult to have discovered the thefts and - some' might never have been discovered. A detective produced a statement in which the accused s.’«id that he did not drink or gamble. Ho had spent the money in meeting ordinary living expenses and in entertaining, his numerous Maori friends when they came to Wellington. Ngahana was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence! Bail was allowed in the sum of £IOOO.