ALLEGED CATTLE THEFT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 19, 30 October 1945, Page 5

ALLEGED CATTLE THEFT

WAIMANA FARMER CHARGED DEALINGS WITH NATIVE SCHEME COMMITTED FOR TRIAL Pleading 'not guilty* to a . charge of having stolen six head of young cattle on or about April 3 last ? the property of Riki .Heremia and others (valued at £47) Bertie William Hughes Jn. .(Mr Hodgson) who appeared in .the Whakatane Court before . Messrs G. A. Brabant and .T. King, J.Fs last Friday was com. .mitted to the Supreme Court for trial. Tlie case involved an unusually large number of witnesses and' was possibly one of the longest heard in Whakatane for some years. It was alleged by the prosecution -that acting under accused's orders ? .a Maori drover of Ruatoki, Wi Wliitu had been commissioned, to bring seven head of yourfg cattle from Ruatoki which he had purchased l'rom farmers under the Govern. -intent and further that the drover had 'picked up' the other Jiead in the process of bringing them from Ruatoki to accused's farm. Accused when interviewed by the •Scheme Supervisor (James Merritt) .paid only for the seven head and -denied knowledge of any additional beasts. As a result the action was brought following a complaint to -the police by the Native Department.

Drover's l Evidence Detective Sergeant Waterson of ■Gisborne conducted the prosecution which was largely based on the evidence of the drover Wi Whitu who in a separate action pleaded guilty to the actual tlieft of the cattle concerned and claimed that he had Joeen instructed by the accused to pick up and bring along any stray head be may have encountered on the way. Witness described how he ■drove the small mob along the river bed to the bush track leading to Waimana. One of the owners of the appropriated beasts Kopa Te Paora, had encountered \bini near the bush -and demanded that his two head be cut out. When this bad been found impossible he had' agreed that accused for whom be was acting should pay the sum of £8. While traversing the bush track about five broke away and returned home again. He had eventually delivered the heifers to accused's farm where, a Maorlt Wi Hiko ) ihad indicated tbe paddoek into which they were to be put. Accused then arrived and witness informed him that, he had seventeen eight in excess of the number required.. Accused agreed to fix up the price of them all including the two claimed by ,Kopa Te. Paora,. Witness had been droving for accused for over a year and the arrangements with regard to strays had gone on all that time.

Cross Examination To Mr Hodgson witness said, that lie could not recall all the details of the statement which he gave to the police when in hospital. Referring to Kopa Te Paora's two beasts, he said that the owner had asked him to take tbe animals along «s he desired to sell them at a price. Witness closed on the price on behalf of accused. On arival at Hughes farm, witness admitted that "Wi ,Hiko had not counted the number of head as they went into the paddock, but shortly afterwards accused himself had. come along and agreed to 'fix them up.' He had not told accused whose cattle they were. He could not remember accused giving him a chequc for £11 to pay farmers at Ruatoki for cattle some two or three months before. He admitted owing accused money before the incident to the extent of £12. He had not paid the debt as accused had 'got aw r ay wfth his pigs' when he was not there. They were worth much more than £12. When questioned by Mr Merrittt as to the mob he had driven away, be had not mentioned the extra head he had picked up.

Supervisor's Story Describing the usual procedure for the purcha.sc. of stock under the Scheme 5 the Supervisor James Mer_ stated that it was a rule that all purchasers should bring their stock into the Department's yards to be valued. No Maori farmer under the Scheme was> empowered to make a deal on his own and all cheques received were credited to

the individual farmers loan account. When information of Hughes deal reached him he started enquiries. The. natural way to drive cattle to \Vaimana was over the river anil past the Scheme office. This bad been avoided by Te Whitu who had chosen the river bed, which however actually saved a distance of miles. On April 10 accused called at his office and paid for nine head declaring that that was all lie had received. Later when certain cattle purchased from Mr Miller of Waimana were being rebranded in the yards he had dis-i covered two 2 year old heifers bearing Riki Heremia's brand, another Maori farmer on the Sch"eme } who complained of losses.

To Mr witness added that oai fufrmen occasions accused had bought direct from Native farmers and was forced to pay the Department over again. He admitted that accused frequently bought cattle from Ruatoki but as far as he knew they had all gone through' the yards.

Maori Witnesses Maori witnesses included Kopa Te Paora who Wi Wliitu to the bush track and had made a bargain with him that Hughes should pay £8 for his two head. He admitted that there were numerous farmers who habitually grazed cattle on the river banks-. He estimated the mob he saw to number about 30. He had received no payment for his cows. Rilti Heremi a said his missing stock were 3 three year olds and 1 two year old. All were branded' and on searching lor them he found one with a broken l?g dead in the bush. He was also present at the rebranding in August when he recognised two of his lost cattle. He had never lost stock before and had never sold to any person other than through the Scheme.

Wabaponga Kingi f another native farmer said that about April 3 he had missed live of his cattle and a young bull. He knew that Wi Whitu had driven a mob up the rived bed past his farm. He had seen the bull witb the mob and ordered, the driver to cut it out } which he did. Later he had discovered one of his cows dead in the bush where it had I alien down a cliff. There were still live of has cows missing, which lie valued at £8 per head.

Thomas Thrupp a young Maori labourer who assisted Wi Whitw to drive the cattle said lie could not give any estimate of the number, but lie corroborated their delivery to accused's l'arm in the evening.

Pakeha Dealer's Evidence Vernon Cameron Miller, of Te Kuiti (formerly of Waimana) said that he purchased some heifers from accused on Ajjril 6—seven 3 year olds and live 2 year olds lor which he paid £77 by cheque. On September. 3 he visited lluatoki at the request' of the Native Department and had inspected two 2 year olds which he recognised as among those, which he bought from the accuscd and had later sold to the Scheme. He had no 'idea that they might have been stolen cattle. To Mr Hodgson witness said that he had gone in extensively for cattle dealing the last year he was in Waimana, but he made no record of the. brands and earmarks, of those be bought. He had known accused for some years and had always found him hona-st in his dealings.

Wi Hiko an ex.employee of accused .said Jie recalled the day of Te Whitu's arival with ,a small mob from lluatoki. He did not notice the number as it Avas getting late. Wi Whitu had, said that there were two of his (Te Whitu's) in the. mob. Accused was not there, and il Wi Whitu said he \vas j he thought he must have been mistaken. Detective Sergeant Waterson gave formal police evidence and stated that he had interviewed accused on i September 30 at his home, Waimana. He told him that the Native Department had lodged a complaint that stock had been taken from farms under their Scheme in April j and that Wi Whitu was alleged to have brought the stolen stock through to Waimana and delivered them to the accused. Hughes had said that it was so long ago. that he could not remember details of the transaction and bad no recollection oi buying even the. nine head mentioned, but could recollect purchasing 19 or 20 head through the Native Office, Ruatoki. He did many deals in stock handling hundreds of bead throughout the year. He kept no written record ol his transactions and just relied on his memory. All his cheque butts had been burnt,

and on the clay Wi Wbitu had delivered the mob } he had uot been present but his Wi Hiko took delivery. At the conclusion of the evidence accused pleaded 'not guilty' and reserved his defence. Mr Hodgson asked for a dismissal on the grounds that the police had not established a prima face case against the accused. The only evidence of any weight was, that by Wi Whitu, who himself had pleaded guilty to the charge of stealing the cattle. The accusation was that accused had taken delivery of stolen cattle from Wi Whitu. and the. drover had said in evidence, that accused was prepared to 'fix it up.' That being the case the only action was now for a civil claim against Hughes and not a criminal action. The whole case. w T as misconceived as there had been no identification of the cattle while in accused's ownership. He had not been there when they were delivered and there was nothing to legally connect him with the cattle other than when Miller bought 12 heifers from him some months later and discovered when reselling them to the Native Scheme, that they bore the brand of Riki Heremia. This may have occurred in dozens of innocent ways. He submitted that there was- no grounds for committal.

The bench considered that the case, was substantial and committed accuscd to the Supreme Court for trial. Bail was fixed for £300 a self ai\d another surety of £150.

GUILT ADMITTED MAORI, DROVER'S CONFESSION The Maori drover in the above case Wi Whitu farmer of, Ruatoki who appeared separately pleaded guilty to the charge of cattle stealing on April 3 and was formally committed to the Supreme Court, Auckland } lor sentence.

In a statement to Constable* Thorn, assen, he said that he had been engaged by Bertie William Hughes,, Jn. of Waimana stock dealer to drove nine cull cows from Ruatoki to his farm at on April 3. He had taken them over by the bush track. He had picked up others on the way but one had fallen down a bank and killed itself and another had broken its leg. He arrived at Hughes farm with six extra and Hughes had told him that lie'would send a cheque for them all to the Supervisor. He had realised that he was doing wrong in not notifying the Supervisor in advance. Hughes had paid him 30/l'or the job.

The evidence of the Maori farmer witnesses in the previous case was heard again in all cases being practically identical with what was given in the first instance. Accused who lml never been given permission to remove any of the c-ittle mentioned in the charge, had ottered to pay for the two which had been killed in the bush.