TE KOOTI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 245, 8 March 1889, Page 2

TE KOOTI.

-«, Te Kooti was charged before Mr Bush, E. M., at Opitiki on the Ist instant, with conduct calculated to provoke a breach of the peace. Inspector Goodall gave evidence as to Te Kooti leaving the Waikato and proceeding to Whakatene, with a large number of followers. Te Kooti had a bad reputation, and he was addicted to drink, this was an additional cause of alarm. He had been asked to return to the "Waikato but refused. The Inspector was asked by Te Kooti, "What crime did you know me to commit ?" "I consider it a crime," said the Inspector "to have a large number of men together by which others are intimidated" Mr J. F. Connelly, an old Opitiki resident, supported the Inspector's statements as to the number of followers, which Te Kooti had , and as to the fear prevailing in the district. His Worship ordered that Te Kooti be bound over to keep the peace for six months in his own surety of £500, and two others of a like amount each. The sureties not being forthcoming, Te Kooti was imprisoned in the Auckland Gaol. Te Kooti was released. His sureties were found, and he has gone back to the Waikato. Te Kooti's conviction will be brought under review of the Supreme Court. Mr Napier will ground the appeal against Te Kooti's sentence on the contention that no act of the prisoner came under section eight of the Justices of the Peace Act, and also that the information charged Te Kooti with misdemanor and Mr Bush R.M. had no power to deal with it, but should have committed the prisoner to the Supreme Court.