FEW MAORI RECRUITS.
TE WHITI'S INFLUENCE
WELLINGTON, July 28. ' Sergeant Pini, of the Native Section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who has been on a recruiting tour "along this coast during the last week,' admits the fruitlessness of his mission. The Natives, he says, have dug up an old prophecy of Te Whiti's about war, and the sheathing of the sword for ever, from which nothing will turn them. -The old men shake their heads and solemnly quote the words of the old soer and law-giver, and if pushed by argument or remonstrance, they | become excited and violent. They will not, they say, allow their young men to go abroad to fight, but if the Germanß come to New Zealand they.will arm,and fight them to the death. The attitude of the Maori women is even more (decisive and emphatic, while- the; young,, men seem to have.been reflectively schooled into a revcron£ acceptance' of the old superstition"i and :> present g, dogged obstinacy thai nothing can move. "I have been right up and 'down the coast," says Sergeant Pini, " and I have been able to secure only two or three altogether."
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Bibliographic details
Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8204, 29 July 1915, Page 6
Word Count
190FEW MAORI RECRUITS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8204, 29 July 1915, Page 6
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