MAORI WITNESSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 185, 4 February 1914, Page 4

MAORI WITNESSES.

A STUDY. Four Maori witnesses in the Supreme Coiivt at Xew Plymouth yeatorduy jtwo harrassed counsels;, qnc. honor&blo judge; and last, but not least, an inter* preter; - "Can you' speak English?"' wag tht question asked of each, only to. b* greeted with an expression of blank inciynprehensiveness or emphatic denial which carried its. own contradiction. Then ensued a wearisome and wordy cross examination, which the interpreter zealously transliitisl. and at \vHicH the learned counsel chafed' visibly. Ones the interpreter was persuaded to learo tbo witness to her own devices, but th& stout) Maori woman in question stolidly , refused to comprehend the questions! and the man of .Maori wovdß had to come to the rescue with the triumphal air of a vindicated man. "The witneat says that be doesn't understand EnpJish,'* was his stereotyped remark, even when Hie witness was an intelligentlooking student of an English Stats school, aged M. In the evening, a restaurant. Enter the interpreter with his little band of witnesses under his wing; After a study of the menu, says the interpreter in English: "Do you all want fish?" First Maori; \o, 1 had lish for dinner yesterday. Second -Maori': I want hair. Ind eggs. Others en suite.