A WITNESS FROM CHINA

Chronicle (Levin), 10 February 1948, Page 7

A WITNESS FROM CHINA

Court Hears Quaint Tale Of Village Life To have travelled all the way from China to New Zealand to give evidence before a law court whose language she neither speaks nor understands is the strange experience of a Chinese woman, Chuey' She Tin, a widow, 36 years oi age. In the Supreme Court at Palmerston North yesterday, through the. oflices of an iaterpreter, «lie gave, a picturesque aecount of the marriagc customs of her country and told a graphie story of present day life in a baekwood village of China. The case is one in which the Public Trustee, as admiuistrator of the estate of the late Joe Hing Poy, a Chinese market gardener who was killecf when the cycle he was'riding came into collision with a motor car in Fitzberbert

avenue on V J Jlay, is claimmg £303b 17s Sd from Cyril William Connor, driver of the car. The statement of (,'laim alleges neg|igence on the part of Conxxor in failing' to keep a pi-oper look out, driving at an excessive speed, and with failing to stop or steer clear of Poy's bicycle. The defenee denies the a'liegations and alleges contributory negligence on the part of Poy in tliat his cycle was nof equipped with proper warning devices, that he failed to keep »a proper look out; and that he was not riding as near ■ as wras practieable to thb- left side ot the road. Mr. Justxee Christie is presiding. Mr. G. )I. McGregor is appearing for the" Public Trustee and Mr. A. M. Ongley represents Connor. The case for the plaintiff was completed late in the afternoon, and as the defenee is not calling any witnesses counsel will address the jury when the court resumes this niorning. With the appearance of a character direet from the pages pf Pearl Buek's "The Good Earth," Chuey She Y'.n, as first wituess for the plaintiff yesterday, ,told the court that she had married Poy in her native village of Nancliung on the 15th day of the 7th month of the 18th year.of the Chinese Hepublic. A hurri&d conference between counsel and the interpreter led to the discovery that this nieant Julv 15, 1929. The Marriage Broker. "My marriage was arraugod through a go-between, the cercmony consisting of three docuxnents aud six rites," said the witness. "The first documenl set out my family tree, the second was presented to Poy \s family at. the engagement and the thinl was presented to Poy at the marriage." A set of red covered parchments covered ixx Chinese hieroglyphics produce d in court was identiiied by Mrs. Yin as the documents she had mentiohecl. Alr. Ongley objected to the adxnission of these documents on the grounds that they had not been mentioned in thd affxdavit of doetiinents filed by plaintiff, but Mr. McGregor replied "that they were then not .in his possession. He further contended that they coutu searcely be classified'.'as documents' being as symbolic of marriage as the w,edding riug in Bntirfh; yountries. The objection' was nbted by his Hoifour wlxo ordered the case to proceed. Six Rites Observed. = The six marriage rites mentioned by Chuey 81k Yin; were then described by her. The first was the issuing of the proposaf by the go-between, then the request for the family tree ("so°thai. the husbaiid may make. inquiries as to the girl's suitability," explatned the interpreter), the confirma '.ion of the proposal (mttd^e tlie oecasion for a preivedding party by all concerned), the exchange oi' gifts, the fixing of\he m'arriage date and lastly the aetual marriage. After the wedding ceremony which was held in the open with reJations and friends present, said Ihe witness,. the oride went to the shrine to pay homage to the ancestral tablets. The couplc then went to their o \yn home. Witness said she had not been married previous!v, but Joe Hing Poy had. aud by his first wit'e had tliree children. In Nancliung village she rehted a house and an area of land equivalent to hali an acre. Her husband came to Mevt Zealand in 1933 but she and tlie children eontinued to live in Nancliung Poy had sent her regnlar remittances o. mouey from New Zealand and up until the war with Japan in 1939 the am.ounts had varied between £50 aud £70 a 3'ear. Tltese amounts had been subsidised by the Chiuese''Government. The receipt of tlie i.Ktney niade u big difference to her social standing in her village and she was able to live conifortably and educatc her children. •

The Barter System. Tlie cessatiou oi' the remittances meant that she had had to work very hard. 8he grew rice 011 her land and did all the work liersel.;'. In an average season she would get about 12 baskets of rice with about 75 lbs. to a basket. From this she paid four baskets a year fiori the house, two for the land and of the rest she used soitie to feed herselt and family and hawked the remainder bartering-for ciothes and other necessities. Apart from that she had no other means of livelihopd. In a' . bad season the yield was very low and she had to subsist, the best waj' she could. ' Her brother7in-law in N tw Zealand had paid her fare from China so that she could give evidence in the court case, She had a temporary permit to stav three mcnths in New Zealand and she fully intended to return to China. Two Chinese now resident in New Zealand gave evidence that they had known Poy and: had attended his marriage to Chuey She Yin in Nanchung in 1929. Yue Henry Jackson, a consul attached to tho Chinese Consulate-General in Wellington, deposed that the marriage docunieiits pvpduced in court would signify to a Chinese that a marriage between Poy and Chuey She Yin had been solemnised prior to the coming into f'orce of the Civil Code in China on May 1, 1931. Evidence regarding various nioneta "v drafts senl from New Zealaxid to China by Pojwas giveh by bill clerlcs from rhe TJnion and National Bauks >>f Nov? Zealand. The case is proceeding.