MAORI MARRIAGES.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14196, 7 June 1916, Page 3

MAORI MARRIAGES.

A striking instance of difficulties surrounding the question.',was noted by the Hon. A. T. Ngata, Eastern .Maori representative. The Bill seeks to include Maoris within the scope, of the conscription ballot, but when-would-'we «ct them if the first division is to ;.;.

exhausted before the. married, are c::i': ed upon? Maori marriages,: explained Mr. Ngata, take place much earlier than among Europeans. It is Tisiially tho custom of the young Maori to settle this important feature of his'life :it just about the time he. becomes of ir-ilitai'y age. In the opinion of the Maori member, the Native custom is so general as to make the Bill in its nresent shape unworkable anvfejo; the Maoris. This matter will have to be thought out in the committee stage. Surprisingly few defects or. omissions were discovered by the critics. The Bill has been remarkably well drafted, and the credit is due to the Hon^ A.' L. Herdman, Attorney-General, who carried out this difficult task. A measure as it appears in Parliament may bear little resemblance to the form it took in the author's hand, and it is known in the lobby that Cabinet spent many days on the building up of the measure. The whole process was kept within the secret precincts of the Cabinet-room, the Attorney-General doing all the drafting. He-smiled behind his hand while-a; private member during the second reading debate, remarked in a superior tone, "Of course there must, hi; imperfections in the Bill, because the Taw draftsmen could not be expected to get such a complicated thing right at the first try!" The whole of this week is likely to be taken up with committee deliberation on the Bill, and this moat important stage may last eveu longer.