JUDGE'S COMMENT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 36, 5 November 1937, Page 10

JUDGE'S COMMENT

Living Conditions in Some Maori Communities NORTH OF GISBORNE Comment on what he termed the low moral standard of the Maoris of the district north of Gisborne was made by Mr. Justice Ostler in the Supreme Court, when addressing the.grand jury. TTifl Honour said that there were fiva * cases to come before the grand jury, and two for sentence. Unfortunately three of the cases for trial and two for sentence were * sexual ones, and the offender in eaeh instance was a Maori or with Maori blood, "Judging from the cases I have heard in Gisborne previously, ' ' his Honour continued, "it appears to mo that there is a pretty low state of morality among the Maoris in tho district north of Gisborne. Something should be done about it, perhaps in the nature of instruction. ' ' In the case against Percy Fulton, who was arraigned on 11 charges of making false documents and seven charges of false pretences, His Honour made further comment. "The extent to which raids have been made in different parts of New Zealand on the sustenance fund,"' he said, "has grown to such a scale that it has become a public scandal, and hero we have a Government servant helping to administer tne fund joining in the raids. His Honour added that the ovidence showed that the accused drew up fraudulent claims and forged documents, and then sent the persons whose names were forged to collect on the orders. His Honour did not think that there would be much difficulty in the return of a true bill. The grand jury returned true bills in all cases and also made the following recommendations: — "That thie grand jury views with great concern the increasing number of sexual cases among natives of the district coming beforo the Supreme Court and suggests that stricter supervision should be given, say, by Maori councils, over the living conditions of the Maoris."