A KNOTTY POINT IN MAORI SUCCESSION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 11, 11 May 1881, Page 4

A KNOTTY POINT IN MAORI SUCCESSION.

A MUCHLY MARRIED ABORIGINAL. ( Waikato Times ) Eyf-witness writes -—I did afc one period suppose I would survive the ordeal of a Native Lands Judgeship. Indeed, it whs an appointment 1 rather envied. I hnve lived, however, to see my tniet-ike. Battle, murder, and sudden death, are no doubt calamities, but they do not harrow tbe feelings or rack the brain to the Bame extent that a pood tough knotty point in Maori succession does. Ido not ask. any one to endorse that statement until he has heard what Ngataparapara told the court afc Cambridge the other day. Afttr being duly admonished lo tell the truth, tbe whole truth, and nothing bufc the truth, he proceeded as follows : — " The father 'of the claimants before the Court (some twenty-five in number, male and female after their kind) was a gay young spark, whoso attentions became equally divided amongst a large circle of nutmeg beauties indigenous to the soil. Ib was during the height of bis conquests that the light of civilisation began to dawn on his benighted land, and a good priest zealous in the cause of evangelical reform penetrated the remote pah to which he belonged. Foremost in the ranks of those who espoused tho faith given to tho fathers was our hero, and he who had been gallant in leve became equally zealous in the war waged against the evil oue. Encouraged by these hopeful systems the rev. father concluded events were ripe enough for adjusting the domestic relations of his penitent;, in accordance with the standards of the Church. The proposal was received with favour —nay, fervour, if wo may judge by the fact that the marriugo service was brought into requisition without further delay. Arriving afc that clause of the formula where candidates for matrimony are directed to join hands, a scene ensued, I venture to say without parallel in the history of matrimonial alliance, strange and chequered as its history is shown to have been. No sooner bad the direction been given than a whole bevy of inamoratas sprung forward, two or three hanging on by the hands and arms of the would-be benedict;, with an equal number clinging to him by the legs. Indeed, he was completely besieged — pinned hand and foot — and what rendered confusion worse confounded, was that they kept hugging and tugging untii fche unfortunate fellow was in imminent danger of being dismembered. Seeing the turn things had taken, the priest naturally enough paused and looked on in dismay. "Go on," cried the hapless bridegroom, "or can't you see for yourself these abominable wretches will have me dragged limb frora limb." Still the rev. gentleman hesitated," seemingly afc loss what to do in the circumstances. "If you don't; get along," cried the other, "and bring this kind of thing to a ficish, there'll be another dozen of them here in less than no time, -and when they find I haven't gofc a flipper left to hang on by, they'll drag off the last shred ot blanketing I have over me." The situation was now perplexing in fche extreme, and acting on fche impulse ol moment the remainder of the service was hurried through with all possible despatch. In thafc way the father of the claimants, to adopt the language employed by the witness, " was literally married hand and foot ;" each member having been wedged more closely than the other in the holy bands of wedlock. The tweofcy.five claimants mentioned above, are admitted to have been the lawful issue of this hand aud foot marriage. The question left to the Court to decide is, to whom does the property destend in propinquity? Does il fall to tt.e issue of the women who hugged the arms or to those who tugged at the legs ? If the former, do the right hand ladies obtain a prefeience over the left ? Even then the question has to be still further narrowed. Has the woman who got hold of the hand no precedence over her who merely grasped at the arm ? Mr Mackay, representing the hapu who hung on to the legs, contends thafc as marriages are made in heaven it does not matter if the thing is fixed up on earth by the heels. "In Scotia, from which I hail," continued the learned counsel, "it is quite sufficient for the occasion if tbe betrothed jump over a broom stick. Now, they could not do thafc unless they had legs as weil as arms. Thafc fact proves that legs are jusfc as indispensible as arms, consequently I claim thafc legs are as good for my case as arms." , Mr J. Sheehan, whose clients derived their claim from one of tbe higher sections of the primogeniture, altogether dissents from that doctrine. He argued thafc the man might have a peg-leg, and thafc if the contention of his learned friend is correct ifc would be quite enough for the purposes ot matrimony if the bride elect espoused a crutch. Such loose ideas of matrimony, he maintains, cannot be tolerated in the present enlightened state of society, ss ifc would tend to sap the very foundations of public morality. Mr Grace, another representative man in Maori matters, also laboured hard to find a peg on which to hang a claim. Not being successful, however, he took leg-bail and retired from the contest altogether. Meantime it will be noted thafc the poor judge is having bad times. He has had one or two lengthened adjournments over the head of ifc, and still he continues to wear a puzzled look. In a word, the leg question is too much for any one mind, and unless speedy relief is obtained he will be reduced to the Bad dilemma of the man without a leg to stand on.