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Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 253, 22 October 1892, Page 5

The Minister for Education and Labour, hns tho reputation of being one of the best speakers in tho Houbo of Representatives, and in consequence there is a general desire that he should address a public meeting before he returns South. We understand that a deputation ie to wait on Mr Reeves asking him to give an account of the legislation passed during the session just closed. Mr Reeves, accompanied by Dr. McGregor, left by tho steam launch Despatch for Kohimaramu, where be intends to inspect tho industrial school. He returned to town during tho afternoon.

" Willß Surprise Party" arrive by the s.s. Takapuna to-morrow, and open in tho Opera Houee on Monday night.

In connection with tlie remarkable case reported in our Wednesday's issue which came before tho Tauranga R.M. Court in which a Maori sued another Maori, a woman, for slandering him by accnsing him of witchcraft, it may bo mentioned that many peculiar instances of tho remarkably strong belief in witchcraft amongst the natives have occurred of lato years. Tho lah t instance recorded is stated to have occurred in the Bay of Plenty district not long ago. A man in tho district known to have been accused of witchcraft, or mukutu, as the nativcß call it>, was taken out in a boat on a fishing excursion but did not return. . His companions alleged that he had fallen overboard and was drowned, but curiously enough when his body was recovered his skull was found to have been fractured. Though nothing more was said about it, it was concluded that tho natives, who were in terror of the man as a supposed wizard and worker of the "black art," had killed him to preserve themselves. On the East Const especially there is a universal belief in such necromancy, known under the names of "whaiwhaia," "kikokiko," and "raakutu." The present almost universal belief in the necromantic power of the tohunga will probably not be eradicated from tho native mind for many generations, forming, a9 it does, a solid substratum of Maori faith, generally overlaid by a veneer of Christianity. The original creed of tho propitiation of the " evil eye " principle, of which the tohunga are the recognised exponents, still exists, in spite of all missionary efforts, as tho Tauranga incident substantially proves. The Urewera and' Hawke's Bay natives enjoy a bad pre-eminence ataong the natives of New Zealand as producing "sorcerers " of unexampled power and malignity. A case is recorded us having occurred some years ago at Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, as slewing the deep belief in witchoraft. An old native, named Poro Iwi, a reputed wizard, was shot dead by two Maori relatives, who were appointed to slay him at a solemn meeting of the hapu, as he was credited with having caused many native deaths in the district by means of witchcraft. The most singular part of it was that the old man firmly bolieved that he had caused several of the deaths by .virtue of his occult powers. A more recent occurrence of a similar naturo took place near Poverty Bay in 1887. Three native men, Aporo Paerata, Te Uri Maranga and Honara, shot an old native named Nuku and his wife because they believed that the eld people bad bewitched and caused the death of one JVlibaera Pareka. The natives were tried and eentenced to imprisonment for life—in their opinion unjustly. A petition was presented to the Government from the natives of tht tribe prayingfor the release of the prisoners, because it was looked upon as a wellestablished custom that all Maoris who practised witchcraft should be pub to death, and it was on account of this custom that the men and women were killed. Tho natives were recently released, the Government considering their crime expiated,