DISTRICT COURT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1363, 1 July 1872, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT.

THURSDAY. JUNE 20, Tjje Queen on' the prosecution of Frederick Suitbii T. Paora Torotoro for ■ *j)firjur/; ; ... i.: . In the matter of an order of the Court calling on Frederick Sutton to show cause why the indictment should not be quashed. (Report of Decision continued from Saturday night's rTjfitEs.) * The deed of the 18th of April, 1869, was not sent up to the oourt with the depositions against the dcfenidant. When it was given in evidence on the 4th of October last, at the hearing of the 'application for the injunction, it was attached to another document, which was written in Maori. Before fuither noticing that deed, it will be necessary to extract certain portions of the evidence given at f both hearings, on the 4lh of October, and on the 9th of November, 1871, by Paoro Torotoro, and by Mr Sutton and his interpreter, as to what took place at the time of the alleged mortgage or sale ; as also of the evidence of Mr Cashmore, and of the evidence of Mr Sutton before the committing magistrate.

The evidence of the defendant, Paoro Torotoro, was to the effect following : "My name is Paoro Torotoro ; T live at Kohupatiki; lam a phieftain of the Ngaitukitaterangi tribe. I know Tareha and Te Waka Kawatini, the other complainants; Tareha is of my tribe ; he i* at Hokari, the other side of Petane. I know Mr Fied«rick Sutton. I know the Mangateretere West Block ; I have an interest in that block. I derive it from my ancestors. Others have an interest in it—Karaitiana, Tareha, Waka, and others—which they derive also from their ancestors. Neither I not' the others ever sold the land to the Queen. We got a crown grant for it. [Block contains 1,253 acres] Nine persons are named in the grant, one of whom, Karauria, is dead. After issue of the grant, I sold my interest in it to Sntton for £SOO. I kno>v what mortgaging is ; it is this—the land returns 10 the c wner at the end of the term. By selling 1 understand that the land goes to the Ruropean, and I have the money ; the land never goes hack to the Maori." (Hen 1 , the interpreter is requested by the court to read S. 2 of the affidavit to the witness, which is done) Witness continues ; "I thought at that time I was signing a. mortgage to Mr Sutton : I mean when Mr Sutton was at my place. J had come to Napier three times, and at those three times Mr Sutton asked me to mortgage my land to him, saying that some of the other grantees had mortgaged their shares to him. When Mr Sutton came to my place he said, 'I have come 1o get a mortgage of your land for some years.' The number of years was not settled—thai is, he did not mention ihe number of years. 1 asked him for how many years the mortgage was to be ; he said he would leave it with me to decide. 1 then said, —' Let it be for five years, and for £500.' He said to rue, 'All right' I

I asked him to give Oashmore £2OO, and to give me ,£3OO, to be divided amongst certain persons not named in the crown grant, hut having an interest with us in the land. Sutton Slid he agreed to what T proposed, and that if I should come into Napier the next day he would give me the .£3OO. On the next morning I came into Napier, and said, 1 Give me this money.' He said, * Fes.' L said to Mr Sutton, ' Wiite it in two cheques—one for .£2OO, and one for .£loo.' He gave me two cheques, but they respectively for £2O and £lO only. L returned both cheques to him, saying, 'There is your money.' He told me to take them, and to come to his place on the following day, and that he would then give me the balance I took only the <£lo cheque—J left the £2O cheque with him. I returned to Napier next morning for the balance, when Sutton said he had not got it to give me. I felt very much grieved on, account of the other claimants-—-the claimants already mentioned. On another occasion, I came into Napier for the money, but I eould not get it, so I left off asking for it. The only things I asked him for were powder and ammunition ; those I got from him. Jt was evening when X .-fjgued the con-

I vcyance. Mr Sutton brought spirit* with him; I had drunk a bottle. TeWaka, my co-complainant, my own wife and sonj were present: my son is about 1(5 years old;: that is all I haveto say." Jo,questions put by Mr Stedman, , his counsel, Paoia replied : " The paper I signed when Mr Sutton was at my was one of the leaves, of a pocket-book. The book was about the size! of this one." . (tteret the witness pointed to a book lying „on table of the Clerk of the Court about eight inches Jong by four wide.) •' It was not like that deed which >\'a* shown me. When I signed the leaf in? the pocket book, 1 thought my land" would return to me." And to questions put by the Court, he said :—" I know Mr Robert Cashmore, the defendant; he is cutting, timber on my land. I have requested him to desist from sodoing j I have done so twice. He said, 4 All right; wait a while,and I'll stop.' He said this the first time On the* second occasion, he said he would like to hear what Waka had to say about.

Mr Sutton's evidence is to the effect following :— u Tareha told me- twelvemonths ago he ha'l sold his right in thebush to Mauey. I purchased, Paoro.'s. share for £SOO in 1869. The conveyance is in court. We had many conversations about it. He agreed that I should go to see him at his house. I went with Mi VVorsan. Negotiation commenced. W e agreed for ,£SOO, of which J2GO was to be paid to Cashmore. Before the deed was signed, he said Cashmere s claim might be more than .£2OO. The deed was signed on the day of the date. I, Pao.ro, and his wife, Waka te Haribari, and Worgan,, were present. He (Paoro) was perfectly sober. I know Maori to some extent. We went into Paoro's house to settle ihe matter Worgan explained the deed in Maori to Paoro; it 'was-, signed I paid the purchase-money partly in money and pai tly in goods to. Paoro. I paid him over £l5O in cash.. I did nob know he had questioned the transaction before to day. He spoke of ten acies near the Boiling-down placn, which he had not sold. It is in thegrant, f ne\er gave him (Paul) any ammunition, nor any note to a Customhouse officer *o procure it." On the 29th December* 1871, Mr Sutton prefered a charge of perjury against Paoio Torotoro, on which occasion he deposed as follows before the committing magistrate. " I saw the deed marked A produced to Paoro. Torotoro in the District Uourfc on that day. Mr Hamlin asked Paoro Torotoro whether the signature to the deed was not his writing. I saw Paoro sigii the deed. The document produced marked B is signed by Pnoro Torotoro. I saw him sign it. Paoro said in the court that he had not reooived the consideration mentioned in the deed ; that he had only received 81Jw. powder, & boxes caps, and two bags of shot. He said T gave him a letter which he sent, to the Custom House, that lie had received a letter from the Custom House for Mr Beyer, and that he delivered it himself, and got 'he ammunition. Ht> has had a large account with me. On the 26th April there was a sum of £4& Is to his credit, after giving him credit for the £3OO mentioned iu the deed produced. One month after that h» was overdrawn £ll 17s 6d, and

now he owes me £l7 15s. I gave him no am munition at any time, in any way whatever." And on cross-examination, Mr Suttott further deposed:—"l siw the dued signed at Paoro *s hou-e in the evening. 1 was within two feet of him when la* signed it; I told him 1 had placed JS3OO to his credit. He always came for goods himself or sent a letter. f rendered him an account on the 26th April. <£2S in cash was pai<i to him oil the 26th May." At the application made for dissolving the injunction on the 9ih November, 1871, Mr Worgan said ;—«« I know Paoro Torotoro. I know this d.e<l, dated April 18, 1869, the one in Bug lish. Jit was executed in my presence hy the said Paoro Torotoro on the day of the date. I interpreted and explained the deed to him and its effect as I « ft * derstoad thorn. Waka Takahari ww then present, and Mr Sutton, the pM* chaser. I explained that it was an, absolute conveyance of all hw iutei'ow

In the Crown Grant of Mangateretere. He was'anxious to get as much money as he could. £SOO *as the purchasemoney, but he insisted on something being paid in addition i o that: I cannot say the exact amount without referring to my book. The reason of it was that Cash more was pressing him for payment of a debt: he said so at the time. This took place at Paoro's own house at Pakowhai. The deed was signed in that part of his house which he used as an office. No other persons were piesent when the deed was signed, except the two already mentioned. Paoro, when he executed the deed, was perfectly sober." Mr Cashmore, when examined on the 4th October, 1871, said, inter alia : " T purchased the remaining part, of the bush from Maney and Peacock—thai is. the right to cut timber on it. [Agreement put in, dated June 29, 1869.] I have seen before this paper dated May 1, 1869. Tareha told me he had sold all his interest in the bush to Maney and Peacock. I had no other talk with him ; he said this about two months ago." (To be continued.)