MAORIS AND PROMISSORY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 975, 16 November 1910, Page 6

MAORIS AND PROMISSORY NOTES.

AN IMPORTANT DECISION. IBy Telegraph.—Press Association.) Auckland, November 15. The Bills of Exchange Act provider that a promissory note signed by a Maori is not valid unless it is made out in the Maori language or bears a , Maori translation on the back. Some timo ago a promissory note, signed by a half-caste Maori woman named Rebecca Brown, was disputed in the Dar- ■ gaville Magistrate's Court, the argument being that there was no Maori writing upon it. The magistrate,'Mr". Scott Smith, agreed that the note was invalid and the plaintiffs, Messrs. Chadwick, Ltd., appealed to the Supreme Court. Tho caso was hoard in Chambers by iMr. Justice Edwards. His Honour delivered judgment to-day and' decided that a half-casto was not a, Maori. The fact that' in various Acts '< other, than that concerned, half-castes wore specifically stated to bo included ' in the meaning of the term "Maori" indicated tho necessity for such a sped- ■ fie statement and as sucli a statement . was not made in the Bills of Exchange Act the inclusion of half-castes was not „ intended. The appeal was therefore upheld, reversing the decision of the ' magistrate.