DEATH OF MAORI YOUTH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 July 1938, Page 4

DEATH OF MAORI YOUTH

POST-MORTEM OPPOSED SUCCESSFULLY RELATIVES ALLOWED TO HAVE THEIR WAY (By Telegraph—Press Association.) ' LEVIN, July 1. An unusual position arose over the sudden death of a native youth, Manuriki Perawiti, aged 21, which took place on Sunday evening at Opiki. The Coroner gave instructions for the body to be removed to the Foxton Morgue for a post-mortem examination, and an inquest was arranged for 11 o’clock on Monday. The body duly arrived at the morgue, accompanied by several of the deceased’s relatives, including his mother and father. A doctor was in attendance to carry out the post-mor-tem, but the women accompanying the body took up a position in the morgue, and the father emphatically protested against the post-mortem examination. The Coroner held a consultation with the police, and it was decided that it was evident that a serious incident would be created if the Coroner insisted on the post-mortem. The parents agreed to an external examination. The Coroner then decided to open the inquest after taking formal evidence of identification and of the circumstances surrounding deceased’s death. He tried to reason with the father than in the interests of all concerned, particularly those of the Maoris as a race, he should consent, but without success. The Coroner communicated with the Under-Secretary of Justice, and later permission was given to the relatives to take the body to Ohau, where deceased belonged. The inquest was adjourned sine die, without a certificate for burial being issued. Yesterday the inquest was reopened at Levin, when further evidence was taken. The Coroner’s verdict was that deceased’s death was presumed to have been caused by heart failure, the actual disease and cause of such conditions not, being available. A rider was added that it was regretted, in the interests of Native health generally, that the relatives of the deceased took up the attidue that they would on no account submit to the body being subjected to post-mortem examination.