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Evening Post, Issue 91, 25 May 1865, Page 3

A Maori Jury. — At the next Criminal Sittting of the Supreme Court, which is to be commenced on Thursday, Ist June, there will be, for the first time in the history of the Province, a Maori jury empanelled. The Bth section of the Jury Law Amendment Act (September, 1862) provides that in any case where a Maori is charged with a crime on or towards a Maori, the prisoner may, by giving a certain notice, require that a jury of Maoris shall be empanelled ; that the Governor may, by proclamation, order that the jury may be composed of less than twelve if the case be not to be heard in the Supreme Court, or, with the consent of the Judge, if that Court is concerned; and that in the absence of such proclamation, if twelve Maoris cannot be procured from within the assigned limits of 20 miles, then the panel shall be completed from the bystanders in Court. Testi Tira, who was sometime ago committed for a murderous assault upon another Maori, at a place near Moeraki, has given the requisite notice for a jury of his countrymen ; and the Registrar of the Court has taken the steps necessary for bringing together a Maori jiny. — Otago Times.