JURY ACQUITS MAORI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19469, 27 October 1926, Page 16

JURY ACQUITS MAORI.

CHARGE OF FALSE PRETENCES. REASONS FOR THE VERDICT. NOT WANTED BY THE JUDGE. COMMENT FROM THE BENCH. "Would the Court like to hear why we have found the accused not. guilty?" asked the foreman of a jury, Mr. A. Moore, in the Supreme Court yesterday after returning the verdict in the case of a young Maori charged with false pretences. "I don't care to hear anything," replied Mr. Justice Herdman. "I can't understand it; that is all. You may go to the back of the Court." The accused was Tu Taalta, and be was charged with obtaining, at Kaiwaka, the sum of £l7 from Thomas Vincent Nutsford, through his agent, Edward Coates, by falsely representing that he was authorised to obtain the loan on behalf of bis mother. The accused, who was unrepresented by counsel, pleaded not guilty. Mr. Meredith, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the case for the Crown. The facts of the case against the accused were extremely simple, said Mr. Meredith. His mother owned some property, and, apparently, there was some suggestion that she was to obtain a lov> •gainst it from the Ratana Bank. The •censed went to Nutsford and told him that he wanted to borrow £l7 for his mother to enable her to proceed to Ratana's camp, near Wanganui, to get the loari. He gave Nutsford to understand that his mother had a guarantee from Ratana that a loan would be made to her. Loan Made by Cheque. On Nutsford's authority he went to Coates, who gave him a cheque for £l7. Before the loan was made the accused was asked to produce the guarantee, or whatever it was, from Ratana, but he said this was a confidential document and its production was waived. The accused's mother and father would •wear that ho had not only no authority to pledge their credit, but that he had been expressly forbidden to obtain money on their behalf. , Nutsford would also say that he would not have made the loan to the accused on accused's security. In evidence, Coates said that after he had given accused the cheque, Taaka asked him not to say anything about it to his people, as he wanted to get more money from them to fix up his mother's business. The accused's mother, Maria Petera Taaka, said that when her son suggested that he would borrow money for fares to Wanganui from Nutsford, she told him he was not to do so. Later, when she saw him with a cheque, she tried to pi. vent him from cashing it, but she wa.» too late. Evidence on similar lines was given by the accused's father and uncle. Statement by Accused. The accused told the jury he was a follower of Ratana, and in pursuance of their belief in the principles of .peace and goodwill toward all men, ho would not contradict the evidence of the witnesses. He was willing to accept the judgment of the Coui't in this case in atonement for the sins of his past, of which the Court knew nothing. Ho added that the trouble was really a family one. and he hoped his mother and .father would forgive him for the trouble lie had caused. Summing up, His Honor briefly traversed the evidence and pointed out that while the accused had made a long statement he had not contradicted the evidence for the CroWn. Before retiring, the foreman of the jury asked the Court how it was that anyone could give a loan without the production of the security or without direct negotiation with the borrower. His Honor pointed out that- in the country, where the people were all known to each other, it was not an unusual procedure. The *jury was about half an hour in arriving at its verdict of not guilty.