NATIVE APPELLATE COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81882, 6 November 1906, Page 2

NATIVE APPELLATE COURT.

On the -oth October the Court delivered judgment in the matter of the appeal against Judge Edgar's decision appoint ng- Toiai'a and Motunui successors 10 some Waitara lands.

After dealing exhaustively with the quc-lions at issue, n decided lliat one oi the appellants could not take biti that the other with her younger sister mu-t share in the lands to which tne lespondents had succeeded. i'he Court in no way differed from Judge Edgar as a great deal of the evidence given before the Appellate Court was not before the Lower Court. The Court left it to the parties to fix the lelativc shares of each in the lands, which they did in a manner that the Bench int.mated was very fair and cqttiiab.e. Mr Damon appeared for the appellants and Mr Claude Weston (Weston and Weston- for the respondents.

The appeal against Judge Mair's decision appointing certain adopted children successors to Roera Rangi (deceased), was allowed. Mr Sha.ler Weston, of Wellington, appealed fur Mrs Clements, one of the appelant, and Mi Claude W'e-ton, of New riymoiiih, for Mis Love, the other. Mr llutchen acted for the respondents. { The Court said that the evidence did not uphold ihe respondents' contonrou thai they had been adopted according to Maori custom. The mere fact of their living with the deceased Roera Rangi in this case proved very l'ttle because their mutual mother was herself adopted by Koera. Moreover the fact of the adoption was not publicly known and when Roera came to.'New Plymouth to register the adoption, she was in her own mild uncertain as to which children she would adopt. The case was remitted bat I; to the Native Land Court to deteimine who are the proper sticccs-ors.