PECULIAR PRESCRIPTIONS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 83, 5 October 1914, Page 9

PECULIAR PRESCRIPTIONS

MAORI FINED FOR. TOHUNGAISM. A case of. alleged tohungaism was heard at the Pat>ea Court this week. A young Maori, named Poi Awarua, was charged with having pretended to cure disease by supernatural powers, this being an offence under the Tohunga Suppression Act, 1898. It was stated that a Maori woman from Parewanvii had come to Little Taranaki to be treated "by the divine healer, and that she had. died. Anqther young Maori woman maintained that Poi had tiea.ted her and had put tea and minced potatoes on her head, whilst another man, who believed he had an evil spirit, was alleged to have been hit on the nose and then made to drink' his own blood with the object of driving out the evil spirit. For the defence it was stated that tho Maori woman from Parewanui had not been treated by Poi. The young Maori woman who claimed to have had tea poured on her head, was alleged to be suffering from swollen eyes, which had all the appearance of having been caused by blows, and when Poi saw her 'he' bathed her. eyes with tea, but did' nothing beyond that. With regard to the case of driving out the evil spirit, it was maintained that the man in question had violently assaulted Poi. Several young fellows rushed him, and he was struck on the nose, and this accounted for tho bleeding, but the drinking of blood was stoutly denied. Two witnesses for Poi maintained that the defendant had never pretended to possess supernatural powers. He was a preacher, however, and had exhorted tho Maoris to give up the worship of Maori idols and the gods of their ancestors. The Magistrate accepted the evidence for the prosecution, and fined defendant £10 and costs. He said that he would have .imposed a term of imprisonment instead of a fine were it not for the fact that defendant did not make money out of his practice.