A RECORD TRIAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14044, 14 July 1916, Page 5

A RECORD TRIAL.

BAND OF MARTYRS. THEEUA. CAB3u .-"' >'- :/ i'(Pflr l?ress -Association. i) AU OKLAND',' Iast night. The Rvi^'tnal'ent'ered upon its. 30th day. to-day.. ■/ At the outset Judge ChapmaitS said : ; :- "Well ,. gentlemen. I think w© may say that we have established a. re-' cord as far as a trial m New 2m land is concerned, f once.thad a similar case whieli lasted 28 days, ; 'biit I don't; know of' one longer. .I. cam-only' once again cxp^ros*. my syniip^thy with you. We fire a. /l>and of -martyrs., and snon'd remain.such the rest of our-- lives.*' (Smiles m jury box.) _ * . The Cro\m Propecntor : I hope we'rhay sharcv m the sympathy, ■ your Honor; (Laughter.) • • >, . ' His Honor, (to jury) : All av<* ran sa'y,gentlemen,: is that the end is iii sight, but we a.i'o not yet there. t , Counsel for t<he defence : I may say; that I; did my best to pi'event the case from coming to Auckland. r . • .- j I . His Honor: I doii't ■; know that' ifcr would have l>eert any. better iiv the coun-; try to have' submitted the case to a? company rtf dairy' farmem I * don't' know ."what the tows -would have thought.; :Mr Lundon : The' Qpws are on strike; until August. ■ , , • ■-:•.■•! R.ua continued his evidence, but ■ owing* to heniOTThage of the nose an adjdurnri men-t was necessary, and later Rua again! suffered i from the troubV, and the :casewas adjourned until td-m.orrow. During", the evidence the "prophet told of the events at Waiiti- o)n .'February 12, the occavsion of. the ailleged uttering d£. seditious -language. . He said that he wanted the Dolfce tb take the initiative-, and,' quietly holding out his hands, told them to/a-rresb him. He did" not say. anything, m criticism of Mr Dyer, S.^l. -Liatei* Rila took iip his narrative, " at a .point' whore the Hon. A. T. Ngata, as Parlia-f mentary- wpiitsentative fot the Eastern Maoris; .visited -Maungapohatu. The prison cv told lifr Ngata that the rimiors of- his fbrtifications, of his cannons, and of his .machine-guns were all lies. ' In connection, with the 1911 and 1915 "sly.grpg" charees, he had already paid' a fine of £108, and sei'ved-A, sentence- of three months m- Auckland gaol. Mr Ngata said : A 'St>a,yrwheriei you ure. I will cany your papers to Wellington to hare a. 'airtiier scrutiny niiade, and whafc- ' ever the result I will communicate with you." y\v. Ng^v wrote to him on March 13. but- th"p 2«tter did not contain any reference to the fine of £108, M-hicb he had paid: -r •._'.■•-. . > . '.". i