WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17846, 29 July 1921, Page 6

WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.

TAKAPUNA RENT DISPUTE.

.An application for a writ of habeas corpus against tho chief gaoler, Thomas Vincent, " to produce the body of Pekaihaku te Anini to be before the Court dealt with according to law and there produce the warrant of commitment," was made before Mr. Justice Salmond at the Supreme Court yesterday. Tho Maori in question was arrested for'the non-payment of a fine of £1 for alleged trespas at Takapuna, and imprisoned. The wrii was applied for by Mr. A. R. Graham, under the Act of Charles 11. Alternatively counsel asked leave to issue a rule nisi or summons on the gaoler, to Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., and Mr. E. C. Blomfield, solicitor, directing them to show cause why a writ of habeas corpus should not issue directing the gaoler to produce the "body." It was alleged that the warrant issr&d for Anini's arrest had Veen irregular, and had been issued without jurisdiction, and that his conviction for alleged trespass was irregular, illegal, and without jurisdiction on the grounds that Anini had never been served to appear before any Court on a charge of trespass; that no intimation of any proceedings against himfor trespass had been given to him; that the conviction had been . made .in his absence; and that the first intimation he had had was when a constable read but the warrant of commitment for his arrest for non-payment of the 6ne. His Honor directed that a writ bo issued to the gaoler, instructing him to produce Anini in the Supreme Coart to-day.