The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, MAY 2, 1898. MAORI DISTURBANCE IN THE NORTH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 102, 2 May 1898, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, MAY 2, 1898. MAORI DISTURBANCE IN THE NORTH.

For the cause that lacis assistance, Por tha -wTong that neods reaiatanoo, For the futuro in the diatanoe, And the good that wo can do.

The-primitive or barbaric mind is always superstitious, and may therefore be easily played upon by fanatics. Even among' Western races, born and bred under the conditions of our Nineteenth Century civilisation, there exists a wide field for the operations of the trickster who trades upon ignorance and superstition. The prophet, no matter how many times his predictions may have been falsified, still finds credulous followers, mid where the charlatan thrives the halfcrazed zealot is never likely to lack a faithful following. Deep down in all our natures indeed there lies a vein •of superstition which plajrs no insignificant part in toning our thoughts atid actions. Even ' the most materialistic and sceptical mind,when pondering- upon the great mysteries of life, becomes at times overwhelmed by the thought that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our everyday philosophy. And in such moods the philo-

the mental state in which delusions find a fertile seed bed.

The appearance in the North, of a Maori fanatic who has gathered around him a considerable number of followers, and whose mania, real or assumed, takes the dangerous form of! menacing- the lives and property of settlers, is. therefore ia no way remarkable. The wonder rather is that of late years the country has been so" little disturbed by such outbreaks among its aboriginal inhabitant s. Still, the Government must have experienced some little difficulty when the news reached Wellington in deciding what amount of importance should be attached to such an uprising. There is often a good deal of method about the madness of evangelists of this sort, and some of them bluster and bounce a good deal without the smallest intention of putting their threats into action. On the other hand, it would be very unwise to treat dangerous delusions among a people, like the Maoris with levity. Even one man running amuck could destroy a great deal of life and property before his career Avas cut short, and fifty could carry lire and slaughter far and wide among our scattered Northern settlers. It is evident from the fact that residents in the vicinity of ilawene have deserted their homes that people on the spot are seriously alarmed. The fact that the police have not deemed it expedient to arrest the man who is causing all the trouble also indicates that there is real cause

for uneasiness

We "think the (iovernment have acted with prudence, therefore, in adopting precautions which seem, at first sight, considerably in excess of any known danger. Probably fifty disciplined

men would have been more than enough to effect the arrest of the fanatic and his entire band. The rapid concentration of the small army of 120 troops, with Maxims and Nordenfeldrs and other war munitions, at UaAvene in tho far North is, however, to a certain extent a test of the capabilities of the Defence Department of the colony, and may indicate on a miniature scale, what might be done against a more formidable enemy. The campaign, involving the removal of the Gairloch from her ordinary trade, will cost a good deal, but perhaps the experience gained by the men engaged in it may compensate for some of the cost. Whether or no, it. is better to err on the safe side when human life and property and the peace of the country are menaced.