The Poverty Bay Herald And East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 811, 17 June 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald And East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1879.

Tb Whiti, the fanatic Maori chief, has had a vision. It is that on a certain day he saw Christ, who had told him that the bullets fired by the Pakehas on the Maoiis would return and kill the whiternen ; and, m the event of war, Christ would come clown from Heaven and drive all the whites into the sea. We think it quite possible that a diseased imagination may have conjured up such a dangerous delusion. That which is hardest of all to understand is, how such men should find numerous followers with intellects as diseased as themselves. Yet we know these things have been from the beginning of the world. The fact that the prophesies of fanatics fail m being fulfilled, does not weaken the belief of those who place faith m their prophets. Dr. Cummin announced that the "world would be destroyed m 1861, and there were thousands, who felt assured this would come to pass ; but 1861 came and went, and the world still continued to revolve on its centre. Then the same oracle declared the world's destruction at a period exactly five years and three months later ; but chaos came not. Still there were those who believed m the wily money-making Scotch prophet, and would believe the same man if he were to send out a prophesy that the moon would fall into the earth, arid the earth into the sun, at a quartei*-past noon on the 21st day of next mouth. Our South-

cotes, our Wainkights. Woodfalls, and the leaders of the "Beavdies," have all had their followers and believers, and there is little doubt but what m times to come other prophets will arise and have visions, and tell of dire events to follow. So long as these people do no harm m their delusions upon the deluded we may well leb them live and continue to prophesy ; but when Hau-Hau savages are likely to caxise wars and bloody massacres, then it is high time the all powerful hand of the law should take hold of, and so deal with them that they shall no longer troubJe the land. The Maoris have before committed deeds of violence, outrage, andmurders, based tiponfanatio beliefs and prophesies, as m the case of Volknbr and many others only too green m the memory to be easily forgotten j and this has been, too, at a time when it was declared the Native had not only become civilised, but Christianized. Te WiLtrt must be got at, no matter what the effort to secure him may cost. His followers must be taught to learn that if men have visions which lead to bloodshed and slaughter, they will be taken, tried, and hanged, that the European may be protected ;* both m the matter 'of his life and property. There is no safety, to the land so long as such fanatics are permitted to roam at large, and preach mischief. They may be quiet this year, and the next, and the next, until confidence is restored and peace reigns, when at any moment some insane Maories may start a new religion, accompanied with prophecies and injunctions, which will once more carry alarm through the country. All this must be made to come to an end. It may not be accomplished at once. It may take months or years to effect ; but the duty of the Government and the object of all peaceful settlers must be to show the Maori that if their pro- [ phisies and religious belief, even , when they amount to conviction, lead i to harm, they w;ll be made to pay j the penalty with their lives. It is ■ quite evident that with many of the Native tribes the attempt to convert them has proved a huge failure. The Scriptures which they have been taught to reverence and believe m, has, by fanaticism and blind interpretation, been perverted to serve the worst purposes. Te "Whiti has prophesied before, and what he foretold did not come to pass. Still he was believed m. He prophecies j again, and belief m him is as strong as of old. The mischief has not yet ceased j but it must cease if the North Island is to prosper and progress. There are, we know, many difficulties standing m the way \ but as the Government is now making a ' firm stand, let it by increasing its forces offensive and defensive, make the present struggle a final one. The friendly tribes of Maories are as much jeopordised as the Europeans; for so long as murders continue m the hostile distriots, all hope of the two races joining together m one bond of mutual interests must remain m abeyance. At New Plymouth homes are made wretched and insecure ; ordinary occupations are abandoned, and men have to cease with the plough that the may take up the sword. And all for what 1 Because a few fanatic Maories, inciting others, are at present permitted to exercise such a terrible sway.