"MAORI MIRACLES."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17632, 19 November 1920, Page 6

"MAORI MIRACLES."

HEALING THE SICK. WONDERFUL CURE& CLAIMED. [BY TELEGBAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WAJSTGANUI. Thursday. A good deal of excitement has prevailed among the Maori section of the community, owing to the alleged marvellous success of a Maori named Tau William "Ratana. He is reported among the Maoris to have cured the sick and afflicted. Ho is known as a " miracle man," and his fame has spread over the island to such an extent that hundreds of natives with ! ailments of various kinds have, during the past few months, been coming to Ratana, a Maori village - between Turakina and I Wangaehu. Only to-day a. number of Maoris, who Had been- treated by Tau, travelled r back to their. homes in the King Country and Hawke's Bay, gladdened, it was said, by the free use of their limbs again. In chatting with Tau Batana this evening, he denied the impeachment that he was a' prophet. He said he was of the Presbyterian faith, and had lived at Ratana for 30 years. He is very spiritually inclined, and some .12 months ago he said he discovered that by close • communion with God he had received from the Holy Ghost power to heal the sick. Since then he had been the instrument in God's hands of curing hundreds of Maoris of ailments and afflictions, some of which were of long-standing and believed to be incurable. His house contained many crutches, and it was very pleasing to him that the Creator was using him in' Curing the sick and giving them a chance to enjoy life. The community has certainly been much perturbed over the coming and' going of so many natives. •