Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : SATURDAY. JUNE 23, 1833.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1320, 23 June 1883, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE : SATURDAY. JUNE 23, 1833.

It has often devolved upon us in the prosecution of our duty to be present at, and to chronicle the sentences passed on numerous malefactors who have been arraigned before ihe bar of justice for crimes c mmitted either through indulging in, and giving bridle and unlimited scope to, their vices and evil passions, or by some other peculiar force of surrounding circumstances, but we never remember to have felt such pity for any yet as we did for the wretched Maori who occupied the felon’s dock on Thursday, charged with the awful crime of murder. The question of capital punishment has occupied the attention of some of the most profound thinkers and advanced legislators of the present day, and its abolition has been tried with various degrees of success in many .European statesand countries. Upon looking over these results, we cannot fail to come to the conclusion that the method of dealing with this crime in France is the nearest approximation to perfection, and meets the requirements of justice more fully, than any other code in existence at the present time In all cases of murder—and it has been our painful task to go into the minute and sickening details of many—there has been shown clearly defined degrees of guilt. While human nature is swayed by hope or fear, by love or hatred, by evil or good, by gam or loss, so long will there be peculiar facts in connection with the surrounding circumstances of all crimes that make the degree of guilt, and show the criminal to be more or less deserving of punishment. There were many circumstances in connection with the case under consideration ihat entitled the wretched prisoner, to the fullest, extent, to that degree of mercy which might be consistent with the ends of justice. A poor, half-wild creature, wrought up to an extreme point of frenzy at the loss of a wife whom he appeared to love with all the ardour of a semi-savage naiure and who was, apparently, further exasperated at receiving a challenge from his rival to come and take his wife away ‘’if he could,” as he (his rival) was about to sleep with her that night is, we submit, scarcely, under the circumstances, to be held accountable for his actions This appears to have been the view the jury took of the matter, and we cannot do other than commend them for arriving at a decision which at once met the requirements of justice and tempered it with mercy, and we cannot help also thinking the sentence of life long incarceration which Sir Jas. Prendergast thought it necessary to pass on the criminal—taking into consideration all and every circumstance, and not the least the one urged by Mr Kenni, as to the effect imprisonment must have on this poor half-civilized creature—was a heavy one ; and we also sincerely trust that Sir James will see fit to call especial notice to this man’s case with a view of bringing about a mitigation of sentence as soon as a neceesaay and sufficient example has been made.

continually issuing from the press with reference to New Zealand and it« aboriginal inhabitants, much could yet be written of the superstitions and other practices that exist amongst the natives, and carried out, in booh* instances, almost in our midst. So long as these practices of bye gone times are confined to the treatment of their sick, or the development, in a mild form, of different species of religious fanaticism, no great harm is likely to arise. When human life and property are, however, at stake, too much then becomes involved to allow the>e runangas cart blanche to carry on as they please. At periodical intervals we hear of their doings, as for instance in the case which occurred some time ago near Auckland, where a native, having been ordered by the runanga to shoot an old man, actually did so. The confiscations of property and the high-handed injustice perpe i rated in other directions, seldom come under the general notice of the Europeans, unless the case finds its way into our law courts. Then in ca-es where life has been sacrificed, while the enormity of the crime is not sight of, an undefinable sympathy is felt for the prisoner, and ti.e Euro pvan juries, if they have any leaning at all in the matter, is to “ mercy’s side.” In the case just tried here we find a custom of the natives exercised in former times, put into practice by the Chief of a settlement at Waiapu, Hamana Mahuika. Acting with the runanga, of which he was the life and soul, it decreed that Naera must part from his wite—the mother of his children. To the mind of a native, we firmly believe, that the indignity inflicted upon Naera by the far exceeded the degradation any sentence a legally constituted court in the colony could have offered. To have his wife torn from him and given to another man before his eyes, and then to be taunted and jeered at by these who did it, is, to a man who has not every spark of self respect extinguished within him, a weighty sentence, and from a tribunal, too, responsible to no one —a tribunal which, if it had exercised such power a few years ago, could have only done so under the strong apprehension of being attacked by a war r>arty of Naera’s friends ami relations. Here in itself, in the barbaric law of past times was a check—at least some guarantee that a man’s marital relations were not to be interfered with with impunity. Hamana’s conduct was in accord with a practice often indulged in by bis forefathers, while Te .Naera, in consequence of English law prevailing in the country was powerless to resort lawfully to the same means of retaliation his ancestors would have chosen under the circumstances, On all hands it is admitted that Naera received great provocation. Is there nothing, we would ask, to be said, then, against his provokers, who are really particiI pators in rhe crime committed ? Lt must not be forgo 1 ten that the same sort of tribunal whose decision provoked Naeha to take the life of H amana might tomorrow offer similar provocation to some one else. This is a phase in connection with the administration of native affairs, worthy of the consideration of the Honorable Mr Bryce, Native Minister, t f late, it is not improbable that the question of giving a legal status to Maori Committees has been forced upon his attention’ .It may have been urged that the consti tution of such committees in accord ance with law, would be the panacea for settling disputes with regard to land. Many contentions of that character have ere now been put forth, and we doubt not but something will be heard of the matter bet ore the present session of Parliament terminates. To a limited extent, the place ing of judicial power in the hands of nauves in a very minor degree, would, tn districts almost solely occupied by | natives, be productive of much good. : Their jurisdiction should not go i beyond dealing with cases of drunken ness occurring in their settlements, disputes about pigs, &c, minor assaults, and such offences as ordinarily occur «t their kaiangas — the right of appeal to be always allowed. Upon this subject Parliament should legislate. It will take time to completely obliterate from the native mind their own manners and customs. But to confer power to deal with questions of land title upon a Native Committee, which may act in the most arbitrary manner imaginable—a power the Resident Magistrate’s Court itself does not possess—would be so monstrous, and so utterly productive of injustice, that we are sure, if the matter is placed in the proper light before Parliament, no such power will ever be conferred. Our remarks are of an anticipatary character, but there are cogent reasons for their being made. Not only should no powers of any magni ude be given to Maori Committees in the country, but the Government should not pass over in silence the decision of the runanga whose unfortunate proceedings have resulted in the death of Hamana Mahuik , and the condemnation of Naeha, for, perhaps, to spend the remainder of his life within the walls of a prison.