A HARD CASE.

Patea Mail, 12 July 1881, Page 3

A HARD CASE.

A resident of Patea County placed bis horse in a paddock on the Mountain road, being assured it was secure. The gate, however, was open, which owing to the darkness was unperceived, and the horse got out. Next day the owner, after a long search for the animal, borrowed one from a friend at Inglewood. Going down the road he was accosted by a Maori who claimed the horse, and caused him to be arrested. He was placed in the lock-up, where he remained for a day and a night. A woman living at. Bell Block,swore to the horse, saying to defendant, “You can’t cheat me, for I rode the horse for two years.” The defendant requested to be allowed to bring his friend from Inglewood, whom the police afterwards spoke of as an “ imaginary man.” Eventually he was taken to Inglewood in custody, and of course an object of public regard. His friend returned to New Plymouth with the defendant, and in the course of evidence it was proved that the horse which the Maori had the one which defendant had been riding, had been seen on the same day and at the same hoifi* in different paddocks. Mr Carrington once owned the horse which defendant had been riding, and stated the hands through which it had passed, ending with defendant’s friend. It had never been owned by the Maori. Finally, one horse was branded TH, and the other W. Yet this Jady who had ridden the; horse for two years swears to it, and consigns an innocent man to custody through her culpable carelessness. Of course defendant was discharged ; whereupon he applied to the Magistrate to know if he could get any compensation for the temporary disgrace which he had suffered, and the inconvenience to which he had been put. The Magistrate said he could hold out no such hope, for that there appeared to be one law for the alien and another for the native. The case is hard, but it does not stand

alone. It is.in the power of a Maori as in the power of a pnkcha at any time to make a false accusation of < against an individual. The only protection to the public lies with the police. They may seize a man so accused and lock him up. They may deny him reasonable opportunity to send for friends or for evidence. But it is the more incumbent on the police to use extreme caution before accepting accusations made in this way. It is particularly necessar3* fora constable to know the Maori character, before lightly accepting a Maori oath on any matter.