A MAORI CUSTOM

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20493, 11 August 1936, Page 4

A MAORI CUSTOM

JUDGE ADVISES ABOLITION By Telegraph —Ptest associatioo AUCKLAND, August 10. That the Maori Councils and other authorities should take steps to see that girls and young men are not allowed to share the same rooms, was the opinion expressed by Mr Justice Fair in the Supreme Court to-day, when George Moses, a young Whakatane Maori, was before him for sentence for unlawful carnal knowlege of a girl of 12 years. In several cases similar to the one before the Court, said the Judge, there had been evidence of young people of different sexes sharing the same room. In such cases the parents of the girls were gravely to blame in allowing such conditions to continue. “The Maori Councils and other authorities should take steps to ensure that such things do not take place. Parent, must recognise the danger of allowing young girls to be exposed to such risk. All those circumstances don’t excuse the young man, who is a good deal older than the girl. The object of the law is to protect the morals and the future happiness of these young girls.” The accused was sentenced to 12 months’ hard labour.