A MAORI MARRIAGE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13829, 8 December 1908, Page 5

A MAORI MARRIAGE.

IIKCOIIMSKI) MY LAW. I COMPENSATION FOH DEATH OK A SON. i Per Pie s Av.ooih! ion. AUCKLAND, Dec. 7. The Ailnlralion Court ]m H given ilh dceiHion in (lie compensation oh no John Puhi MjiMlu'mn Jigjiinn! Gibson and Fyfield. The. respondents Iwive a sawmill near Th urnarit tin i . On .June. 22 last Hurry Puhi Matthews, a son of the, claimant., while working at the mill, was accidentally killed. The claimant alleges that his and the other members of his family were partially dependent on the earnings of (ho deceased, and claims £200 an compensation. Respondents diaputo thmr liability to pay compensation, on the ground that the claimant was not the lather of tho decoasod uithin the meaning of tho WorkcmV Compensation for Accidents Act. Tho claimant is a Maori. In or about tho year 1889 ho took as a wife one. Orewa, who is a Maori, and a member of the Ngatihuri tiibe. Tho union was* arranged in accordance with Maori custom, but thoro was nothing in the imturo of a marriage ceremony. Claimant and Orewa have lived together since as husband and wife, and have had issue nine children. Tho deceased, Harry Puhi Matthews, was tho eldest of theso children, and was born on November 1, 1800. In November, 1896, a ceremony of marriage between claimant and Orewa was performed without any license under the Man ;age Acts by tho Rev. Taimona Hapimana, a duly ordained clergyman of the Church of England. The application for arbitration was filed in the present case on September 29 last. On October 23 the case was partly heard, and then adjourned. On October 27, before the hearing was resumed, the claimant registered the birth of his deceased son, Harry Puhi Matthews, under the proWaione of the Legitimation Act, 1894, and on the samo day registered the births of three of tho other children who had been born to him and Orewa. Tho question that arose was whether tho claimant was the father of the deceased Harry Puhi Matthews for the purposes of tho Workers' Compensation for Accidents Act. The Court held that he was, and ordered the payment to him of £130 compensation.