NATIVE LAND CASE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 942, 8 April 1930, Page 1

NATIVE LAND CASE

“PROPHET’S” INFLUENCE RECALLED MAORI GIFT LAW ASPECT An involved case concerning a gift of 2,300 acres of land by _ the NgatiWhatua tribe to the Hokianga native leader, Aperehama Taonui, more than 50 years ago, was reopened in the Native Band Court this morning before Chief Judge Jones. The case, which has been discussed in Court in North Auckland several times in recent years, is an appeal for the return of the area to the donors, the Ngati-Whatua people. An adjournment until this afternoon was made. ~ „ Much of the evidence on the files of the Tokerau Native Land Court contains interesting references to Aperehama, known ordinarily as Abraham, and regarded by many natives outi side his own sub-tribe, Te Foppto, as a I prophet. Abraham, as a picturesque i figure of the Maori race, has not received the recognition he has dej served. Recognising his influence, his ! support of Christianity and his profound knowledge of Maori tradition, the New Zealand Government appointed him Native Magistrate. When Abraham visited the NgatiWhatua area, chieftains of the tribe presented him with the land concerned in the case, the Oturei block. The gift was made in 1873, according to the Maori gift law, tupu. Abraham’s death took place in ISS2. In the years of his residence on the block, hundreds of natives from several tribes assembled to hear the “prophet’s" teachings. In a hearing of the case -at Dargaville, it was argued that there had been irregularity in awarding succession under a will prepared by Abraham's wife before probate was granted Abraham’s will, or a copy of it, in 1892. The issue was whether, under tupu, Abraham had held the land in trust for the people of Hokianga or the Ngati-Wha-tua. The Court then found that the successors appointed were bound by the same trust as that affecting Abraham: no question of reversion to the donors arose.