Mereana (Mary Ann) Ratete Clayton

Hawkes Bay Herald HAWKES BAY HERALD, VOLUME XXI, ISSUE 5196, 4 OCTOBER 1878

Our Tauranga correspondent telegraphs that the monotony of events in that place was disturbed yesterday by a melodramatic performance. The well-known native assessor Mita Hikairo appeared before the Registrar, Mr Clarke, for the purpose of obtaining a marriage license. The lady he desired to marry was Mary Anne Rogers, daughter of an old settler. The affair, however, did not eventuate, consequent upon representations made to the Registrar by members' of the would-be bridegroom's tribe, that there were grave objections to the celebration of the marriage. The Registrar wisely refused to issue a certificate. Much interest is created in relation. to the circumstances of the case which warranted the Registrar in refusing the certificate.