PARIHAKA. INFLUENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13847, 9 March 1907, Page 10

PARIHAKA. INFLUENCE.

YOUNG MAORIS' EFFORTS TO BREAK 11'. a seventeenTiours' KORERO,. The Woriwcri pa, Hastings road, was tho sceno of considerable excitement on Monday ,night, and Tuesday (says tho Taranaki News), over tho meeting to consider tho advisability of appointing a. successor to Tohu, the lato " prophet," and what should bo done in regard to the, Parihaka system generallyIt takes a Maori a long- time to do anything' and a, long timo to say anything— often a long time to pay anything,—and it was only in. keepiiig" with iho usual order of tilings, that "tho Maoris should have taken about- 17 hours to thresh out tho business they were assembled to settle. And, like true Natives, they really decided nothing. E'er after tho meeting they were'as near a solution of tho questions exercising their minds as they wiro before tho korero operaxl.

Some Wniokura belles opened tho proceedings with a danco of welcome. Ilien To Kahupukoro, always a. prominent friend of Tohu's, sprang to his feet and harangued his auditors. " Ho paid tributo to Tohu's mana, Tohu, ho said,, was a great ideui. 110 tow possessed of supernatural ipowors. Did ho, not prophecy a lot of Ujings that had como truo? Did ho not tell them somo years before that tho potato crops would fail, and that tho Premier would dio? Did lio not tell them that the pukehas were not to be trusted, and would bike all Iho land they could from the Maoris V He (Kahti) had no prophetic powers; his mana was not tho sanio as Toi&i's. Therefore lie had no wish to take Tohu'.s place. Ono branch was withered; there was still a live branch. They oould rest under tho livo branch if they liked.

Taulco (0110 of Titokowaru's warriors, and an old man of laooli influence in the districl-) said iio li-u.l beon a believer in Tolm, but Tohu liad died. If lio was a true "'prophet" why did ho die? Tauke continued: "Now Ido nothing-; I will lio ■down. I won't sitpport To Whiti or the Government. TJio Government tako onr Jands away. Tlicy arc 110 good." Nga Raru (a Ilawcia chief), Ngapaki (a. Whemtakura. chiefs and Whakarua (Waitotara) urged the Maoris not to go ■over to the Te Whiti camp. It was a dangerous tiring on the Maoris to support To Whiti, who could not livo long, and who took their money and only gave them prophecies of doubthil merit'in return. The Young Maori party was in strong ■force. Led by William Fox, an. enlightcened Native who was taken in "hand as •a child by Sir Milam Fox, and educated at the lattcr'e expense, they put up a big fight for discontinuing tho practico of wasting tJieir time and substance in going -to Parihaica periodically. Tohu was dead now, and there w»s no chance of his being resurrected, and the present was a good opportunity of ridding themselves of Parihaka altogether. Te Whiti, they represented, was a fraud who could do tliem no good. Tho Government of tho pakefcis could do them good. T e Whiti woukf die soon. The Government never died. Who was"then. the better to follow? They had somo land, and this land they should work, and by eo doing make a Irving; liko tho pakchas. Somo of tho Maoris had cows, and were making a good living. Why shouldn't they all do tho same, and not throw Ihcir money a v.'ay iat Barihaka,? Tbe Maoris wanted education. Could they get this bettor from To Whiti than from the Government? Of conrso they coa&ln't. There was no room for two systems—they must cither be like the pakehas or degenerate still furtlier. And the time lwd arrived when they should call a halt ajid look at tilings squarely in tho facc, and not be forced to follow an old custom wliicli was of no benefit to them, buj; which was -pernicious in its cffect upon them all. Some of the oldef Maoris believed in going over to Te Whiti. If Tohu could not save them, To Whiti might. Why shouldn't they give him a chance? Why should they be dictatod to by the young men of the hapns, who had no experience of the glories of tlio past, and knew nothing of what was in store for tho Maori raoo? There.was a continuous flow of talk from 8 o'clock on. Monday night till 1 o'clock the next afternoon, wiien it was seen that things would havo to bo loft as they wcro —the Tohuites to stop at homo, and tho Te Whitites to still pay their respccls to the Parihatca seer. The question of deciding upon the disposal of Tohu's.gol'd was referred to by the younger Maoris, but the older men believed tho money should not be x touched yet awhile, and tho old men had their way. Parihaka. will be robbed- of much of its importance if the Tohuites' stop away from 'there in futnre, for Tohu's followers wero far greater in number than To Whiti'e. It should now be only i a matter of a short time when tho Parihaka movement will die right out, as tlicro seems little likelihood of a successor to Tohu being appointed. When Te Whiti'lras drawn his last breath tho young ■ bloods will-have their way, and the 'I'acanaki Maori of tho . next generation will become a tiller of the ■soil. The Parihaka influence now retards <to.a very largo extent tho progress of the ' race in this part of tho colony.