MAORI CHILD MARRIAGE.
.THE ABDUCTION OF A GIRL. WARNING TO MAORIS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. A warning to Maoris was issued by Judge Chapman in the Supreme Court today, when a young Maori named Iwi Tohaea entered a plea of guilty to a charge of abducting from her home a Maori girl under the age of 16 years. Counsel for accused stated that the girl's departure from her home was an ordinary case of a Maori boy running away with a Maori girl. Even the police were in some doubt as to the girl's age at the time, and it was agreed that she was now over the age of IG, at which age it was not unusual for Maori girls to Be married.
Addressing the prisoner, His Honor said: "I am going to give consideration to your good character and the fact that you have served your country, but I cannot allow this offence to pass without punishment. You will receive a short sentence of imprisonment. The object of this is to let all Maoris know that this thing cannot be done. If a man comes before the Court for doing what you have done, taking a young girl away from her parents, he comes for punishment. The next man who does so will get more severe puna'shment than you. You will be sentenced to three months' hard labor."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19200520.2.41
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Taranaki Daily News, 20 May 1920, Page 5
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232MAORI CHILD MARRIAGE. Taranaki Daily News, 20 May 1920, Page 5
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