NATIVE LANDS COURT, CAMBRIDGE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1970, 21 February 1885, Page 3

NATIVE LANDS COURT, CAMBRIDGE.

Thiksuu.— (Before His Honour Chief Judgo Macdcii.vld, and A^esim- Puiuka Te Wain.)

Te Wheutu No. 3. Thk ■nib-dm-nons «>f this block weie arranged. The following oideis were made:— . . Order for No. 3v, containing 1234 acie«, infivourof Meneheta, Poiiawha, _hni t<» llatiotu, Whmpo te Puni, and Titihuia Nepn. . „,„ Order foi No. 3c, containing 1H»1 acies, was in.ulc m favour of the same people. Older for N«>. 3b, 19.»« acie.s. was made in f.vvoui of all the miginal owners, to bo inalienable e\cept by le ise. An older for Crown grant was m.irle in cacß c.so. , At the close of the Wlietn sub-di vision case, Hany Symonds addressed the cunt to tlio following effect :- He understood th it Captain Blake had ar nved in Cambridge, and that a few days ago when the enquiiy about the Mangatautui shearing was going on, he made a ceit.un charge against the assessor in which th it gentleman was concerned. If it weie the intention of his Honour to examine Captun Blake, he (Harry Symond.s) would ask that the examination be made in opi>n court in trie presence of the public and all concerned. His Honour said that he had not the power to compel Captam Blake to come before him, but as he (Harry Symonds) had tin own down the challenge, and as he understood Captain Blake came from a countiy w heie challenges woie not ignored, h» had no doubt the matter would not be allowed to pa*s unnoticed. Captain Blake no doubt had friends present who would mfoi in him of what hid taken place, and he h id n > doubt that he would appear before him at .) o'clock to-morrow morning when the c >urt resumed its sitting. t nday. THK AI.LKr.KD BRIBERY CASE. The Court opened at l> o'clock. His Honoui a--ked if any one had anything to siy to bun, the Chief Judge? Hanv Hymonds said on thr previous day he had spoken to the Chief Judge re homething he hid said at a previous sitting about Captain Blake. On that occasion he infonued the court of what he knew of the Nubject. Yesterday he had heaid that Cap tarn Blake had arm ed in Cambridge, and as he w as desirous of hearing what he had got to siy on the s.ibie.ct, he had challenged him to come before the court that morning. Having he ml what Captain Blake had to say, hu would then follow and tell the Chief Judge u lot more that he knew about the mattei. His Honour baid if he (Symonds) knew anything eha bearing on the question, he li id better speak it out, and not make it conditional upon what Captain Blake had to s,\y. Captain Blake said as he had been absent when Sy mauds made the statement refei red to, and which seriously concerned bun, he (Symonds) had better repeat it again. His Honour then repeated Symonds statement, which has already been published m full. Captain Blake snid the charge was a very nenous one for Hauy Symonds to make. He would like to ha\e it taken on oath. His Honour said he had no power to compol Symonds to make Mich a statement on oath. In fact he did not see the necessity of such a com.se. Capt. Bhike had said that the chaige w.u, a sencua one. He did not know whether he intended making any statements in regard to it. He would tell him, as a lawyer, that the matter involved a ciimmal offence, and therefore he (Capt. Blake) could exercise his own discretion as to whether he should say anything or not. Capt. Blake : Harry Symonds ha.s said I showed him certain receipts. These (handing in two documents) »re the receipts I showed him. He said they were in English; >ou will see there is one in Maori. His Honour: Hany Symondt. said theie weie other receipt*. Capt. Blake : These are the receipts he saw. Harry Symonds (having examined the receipts) : I saw three receipts. One of these now before the court was not shown me at nil. There is a- receipt for tMO missing. Oneof theuceipts that I saw was for £iO, one for tl"> and one for £25.. Capt Blake told me that if the Chief Judge were h ml and would not giant a lehearing that he should pi oduce these leceipts, and show them at the inquiry. In tl c meantime I was to leave the documents with him, and w hen the tune came C\i| *. Blake told me th»>v should be pmil\ ced. I asked Capt. Blake how he became possessed of the-'e documents, and he replied that Mr Moon's papers had all 1 een handed over to him by Mi (Jru-e. This conversation took place in the small sittiig-room upstairs at Hewitt's. On the 112 th of this month 1, with Capt. Bl ike's younger brother, received a telegram from Capt. Blake, telling us not to mention his name in connection with t'us affair in the presence of the Chief Judge, and also telling us not to reveal any tlung about these documents, but to let them I ass from our minds altogether. Capt. Blake says this is a serious charge, and wishes me to make my statement on oath. lam quite willing to do so. Capt. Blake t( Id me and the whole of the Agatirauk.iwa, that the judgment in the Maungatautan block was a very wrong one. The re-it of what I have to say I'll leave alone at present, but if I'm put on my oath 1 11 say more. lam making this statement as a Slam i, for I don t understand the European wav «>f doing things. There is something I have yet left unsaid, but I will wait" until I hear Captain Blake's statement. On the 7th of this month a meeting took placj at Waotu. Mi Moon came there and -aid that Nsratiraukaw a were a lot of stupids, and said (shaking some documents) ' I have got them in my hand. ' He then put his hand upon his heait, and ieermgly niforiied them that Ngatiraukavva «eieth-ie. He took it for granted that Captain Blake was a gentleman, and that he would not go back upon anything he had bu d M«" Moon had a small piece of land at C.unbndge, which he had given Main te Ngaiu to cultivate, and they had planted it with potatoes, but when Mr Moon heard tint Mahi was persisting in applying for a reheating, he had the potatoes destroyed by turning hu horses in on them. Mr Moon had been a friend to Ngatiraukawa and himself, and it was only now he had made any such statements a* these, and ho had mile them at Captain Blake's instiga"c iptam Blake : Symonds a«ked me about ipfeirin' to those cl"Ciuif,nts in suppoit of .iH'V'tincr. „„(! I told him to do no «uch thin?, and on no accmnt to lefer to them. , „ , , His Honour: How canw Symouds to know .m\ t'liiij? at all about them ? Cipram Blake. Me and T, n* the court will leui'-nib r,weiee'ig«igedotitheMaiing.itantaii cT-e when it was being considered. These pipers were lying on the table in mv office, among other business documents, and as Symonds was in the habit of a(nn a iii and out, it was very easy for him to L-ick^them up and read their contents. Symonds i* the last man in the world I would have suspected of such a thing. Harry Symonds :— But no man can go into an office and see the contents of papers that aie locked np in a tin hot \m\sm they aro hist taken out of that box. Captain Blake .-These papers were inside my orfice an I weie lying on the tabl\ Mv office was the room refeired to by Synionds as the sitting loom at Hewitts. T never said anything about £200 to Svmonds. The documents now before the rourt weie the only documents I showed f „„ Symonds stated that the receipts a Bft w were all in English. There is one f them and it is in Maori. Both receipts 1 ,eak for themselves. The receipts which wel e then read, are as follows :-K.hikihi, 10th May, 1884. Received from Mr Win. M on the sum of £30 .1t .1- a loan fiom M, Moon to me, which I will repay to him. Hiirneri, Waata Tipa -Ngamawahia, 12th vr 1884. Received from Win, Moon the sum of £25, cash lent, Waata Tina ' One otthese receipts had been given it.fore the court sat, and the other some time after the curt had closed. Hairy Symonds had said something v. ,t talkina to aßangatira. He Cap- £" Blfe .5»Ht confess that ho thought ho ha" been taking to a Rangat.ra .when t was talking to Hairy Sy.nonds, but reSent events had altered that opinion. His Honour asked Harry Sjmondi if he was not awaie that the persons for whom Stike was acting were opening proceedings for dealing with the land on the expectation that Rewi and other* w.mld acqune an in HanVsymondi : I cannot say so Hs Honour: You used to pay the hearin? fee with great cheerfulness. Where did you get the nioiiev. Harry SymoncN : The money was c« ilectal from from the natives, and each mdivi S(S SSSdX court that this wa, SyiwnOs ftamitted that when the

Maungatantari case was before the court .it Kihikitu Capt. Blake had woiked \eiy hard foi Ng.itiiauk.iu a. Mr Moon suggested that his Honour should hi>ar evidence piosing the repayment of tho first loan to Tip.i ; also, tliat lie would like Tip.l to pay him thi? sppond. The statement that Tipa had leeened £50 was not true. These (referung to the receipts beftue the comt) weie the only monevti that had been p.ud to Ttp.i. He would also dr.i w attention to tho fact th.it Ng.it ii. iukavi:i were his own personal relations, and that by working against them, as had been alleged by Hairy Symonds, who was the lawyer foi Xg.itiiraukawa, he would bo working against himself. The matter then diopped, and the couit adjoin ned sine die.