GUARD THE MAORI

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2442, 22 April 1915, Page 6

GUARD THE MAORI

AGAINST DISHONESTY

LOOSENESS IN NATIVE BUSINESS

Alleged commercial immorality whero "Native land transactions are concerned was touched 011 in the Court of Appeal yesterday. The Court was considering the case of a certain northern barrister and solicitor wlio had been called on to show cause why he should not be struck off the rolls. The score against him was professional misconduct in the course of a land transaction with a Maori woman.

Mr. A. W. Blair, who was pleading for leniency for the offending lawyer, suggested that the Court might take into consideration tlie fact that in Native land transactions things could bo done which never could liappeu if tho dealings were solely European. The' Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout): That is the whole blame of the solicitors concerned.

Mr. Blair: No doubt. . . . This is not by any means the first time this kind of thing happened. Mr. Justice Cooper: Anyone who has liad much to do with Crown lands dealings knows that there is nothing Which so destroys business morality as these Native transactions.

The Chief Justice: I suggested twenty-eight years ago that there should be no transaction in Crown lauds except through the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Mr. Justice Edwards: Still, they have gone a long way in providing these boards, which are pretty careful. The Chief Justice expressed the opinion that trouble might be avoided if the laud was disposed of by being sold at public auction by a public official.

'Mr. Blair: But advantages taken of Maoris have- not always been taken by ordinary private citizens. Returning to the specific case before the Court, one of Their Honours made some observations to the effect that wrong practices by solicitors against Natives could not be overlooked, and that Natives must be protected. Mr. Blair replied that solicitors debarred by the Appeal Court from practising would mot necessarily be debarred by tho Native Land Court. He mentioned, as ail instance, that a Wellington lawyer who had been disqualified had gone to the King Country and practised as a Native, agent. The Chief Justice:' The Native Land Court is not bound to allow that.

Mr. Blair: Apparently tho Native Land Court does not take any notice of these matters; there is an actual instance.

The Chief Justice: Well, then, I don't wonder at Maoris being cheated if that is the case.

Mr. Blair: . The Law Society has drawn attention to the fact that any person, be his character what it may, can practise before the Native Land Court.

In announcing that the Court would suspend the solicitor in question for two years, the Chief Justice remarked that in many eases Maoris were illiterate, and that the Court should not allow them to bo robbed. A number of eases had come before the Court 111 which Natives had been robbed by land agents and others.