COOK ISLANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12819, 20 March 1905, Page 6

COOK ISLANDS.

[Know Ol'R OWN COIiKESrONDKNT.]

M \\'i; \. March 4. Br the Cook and Other Islands Government Act Amendment Act, 1904, i* is provided that on and after March 31 itist.. tho ariki.V courts of any of these islands to which a European i-esident. agent has. been appointed by the Governor of New Zealand shall be abolished, and that thereafter the jurisdiction and powers of such court.* shall be exercised by the resident agent theiein. These officers in the case of Mangaia and Aitutaki have always carried out judicial functions, presiding at all the courts held in these two islands. But in 1899, when the island statutes were passed (one for each island of the group) by the Cook Islands Parliament, the Statute of Aittuaki was the only one that contained a provision for the appointment of a European magistrate to administer the law. In ttie case of all the other islands the administration of the law lemained in the hands of the native judges of the aiikis* coin Is. The sweeping away of the socalled aiikis' cumts from this gtoup is a measure of reform that has been long needed. In the first place there was no regular trial of the accused, as in a European tribunal. The police, known as akava (which means to investigate >r condemn!, made a sort of inquiry into the charge brought against the accused, and if they reported that, the latter was guilty, the judge inflicted the fine without further trial, the accused, uuless a man of influence or determination, seldom having an opportunity of defending himself. The natives have been very busy the last few weeks, re-crectiug their houses that were blown down or damaged on Januarv 15 last, and the settlements now begin to assume their wonted appearance: but the vegetable (tree) productions of the island received a pull-back from the late "blow" that will restrict the output for months to come.