THE MAORI PRISONERS-THEIR RELIGION AND PROPHETS.

Poverty Bay Herald, 21 August 1879, Page 2

THE MAORI PRISONERS-THEIR RELIGION AND PROPHETS.

From the Otayo Witness. A personal interview with the Maori prisoners at present m Dunedin Gaol for trespassing on the land of Europeans in -Taranaki, has revealed some curious facts concerning their new religion, and the foundation of : the authority? of the prophets to whom they yield such unquestioning obedience. As already noticed, .the Maori prisoners who arrived on Saturday, are of all ages, from youths of about 16 years to grey-bearded men ; but the greater number of them are men of "middle age, powerfully built, intelligent, a'iid -well conducted^ and several of them are exceptionally well' educated. From their own ■ statement's it would appear that they ; regard thetiiselves "as suffering m "the cauEie of their religion ; but as their imprisonment has been foretold' : by .Te Whiti, it only •strengthens their belief m him, and they are prepared to submit "uncomplainingly until the deliverance, which he has also prophesied shall come. Among the followers of 7 c Whiti now m Dunedin Gaol are Maoris who have belonged to the Church, of England, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Wesleyans, and all of them have yielded themselves to the new religion. The Bible is taken as the text-book of their religion, and, indeed, it is claimed that God has revealed the true meaning of 'the Bible through their prophet Te Whiti, that Te Whiti is oiie of the promised prophets, and that his power and his history are foretold m the Bible. . . The first, native I addressed was a young man named Periri, who acts as interpreter between his fellow-prisoners and the gaol officials, J%iri js apparently a devout follower of Te Whiti, and reads and explains the Bible to the Other prisoners. In reply to" question, he said : The men are of several tribes, {but most* of them are Ngatihauhaus. Some of them belonged to the Church of England, some to the Wesleyans, and some to the Catholic Church, but we.all now believe mTe Whiti. Te Whiti: is a prophet. I cannot tell you what that is ; you know yourself. He is above all the priests and preachers we have had. Hone Awhe was much move communicative,' and apparently better informed. He is a tall, spare man, with very intellectual features, and his mannerforcibly reminded me of a religious enthusiast seeking to make converts. He displayed an amount of earnestness bordering on excitement, and spoke with eagerness and fervour regarding his faith m Te Whiti and his religion. According to his statement the ploughing for which they had been committed to prison was important chiefly as an act of obedience to the prophet, and with patriotic pride he asserted that they had not been taken prisoners, but had surrendered, as they had been tcjld to do by Te Whiti. 1 cannot tell you why Te Whiti sent U3 to plough the land. Had we refused to go I do not think Te Whiti would have done an y thing. We went because he told us to go, and because we believe lumj tq be a prophet. Reporter : But why do you believe that he is a prophet ? Hone Awhe : Te White said he was made a prophet by God, and he foretold what was true. He said when Whitely was killed that nobody would be hanged for him, nobody shot for him, and that there would be no war over him. I did not believe what he Baid at the time, and I did not think he was a prophet, But when there was no fight, I was satisfied. Te Whiti says, from the Bible, there will be no more fighting m that Island—that there cannot be more fighting there. He sent us to the ploughing for the purpose of claiming the land, I think, but I do not know exactly. He did not say to us " Go," but wo heard what he said to the people, and of course We did it. Reporter :—^-How do you mean you will be all right I Hone Awhe ; We shall ris,e up to Christ. That is told m the Bible, and we believe it.

Reporter : Do you expect Te^^^H will release you from prison ? Hone Awhe : The Governmoi^^^H release us. Te Whiti said whei^^^H certain time comes God will let I suppose he means God will m^^^^| Government let us out. Te Wl^^^^l we should be put m gaol, but would be put m gaol with us. m gaol through him, and we sorry for it. We were not fighti^^^^H gave ourselves away. Nobody t^^^^H I believe what Te Whiti said. I he is with us now, but I cannot <^^^^| it. Reporter : But Te Whiti anc^^^H are not mentioned m the Bible. Hone Awhe : No ; b" fc ifc them. It< says there shall com^^^^J prophets, and that they . will be and after three days they will ris^^^H and 7000 people will be killed. As I could not remember havi^^^^H a prophecy of this nature I vent^^^^J call the statement m question, bu^^^^J Awhe was equal to the occasio^^^^J haying procured Bibles, a Mao^^^H and an English one, we read to^^^H the 13th chapter of the Book of lations, . which contains the proph^^^H which he referred. The interpre^^^H which is placed on this chapter by^^^J Awhe, as taught by the Maori prof^^^f is that the Court (land) withou^^^f Temple (the Maori country) is t^^^J given to the Gentiles (the pakehas),^^H is not to be measured ; and that^^H Holy City (Parihaka) will be tro^^H under foot for 42 months. The 4th, and sth verses of the same cha^^H are said to describe the power of (Maori) prophets, and the 6th, he sa^M proved that they had the prrwec^t^ prevent war. 1 asked " who was th"el beast that was to ascend out of the bottomless pit ?" and was gravely informed that that meant the Government at Wellington. And so all the mysterious allusions m the chapter were explained away, or else vanished before the alldevouring credulity of the. disciple of the Maori prophets ; who, for further proof that Te Whiti and Tohu were prophets, directed me to read the 4tli chapter of Zachariah and insisted that the 3rd verse and the last four verses of that chapter supported their claims. After thisj Hone Awhe talked freely about his faith, but gave up all hope of making a proselyte of his interrogator. He said : We (the Maori prisoners) expect to return m about a month. We. ought to return m about a month — before Te Whiti's day, whioh is the 17th of September. Te Whiti did not tell us we should return within that time, but that is what I think. If we are kept m gaol a year I shall still believe m Te Whiti. ■ Reporter : How came you to leave the Government, employment and join Te Whiti?. . .. • Hone Awhe : Because I read the Bible and^heard whatTe Whiti said. I was a church of England man, but Te Whiti is better -than the Church of England clergyman. The ministers can ; read" the Bible, , but cannot tell us the meaning,, of it or, they tell us wrong. Te Whiti must rise up again, if the B,ible says so. I believethe Bibl,©, and that he will come up. People believed when Christ was crucified that He would not rise again, and when He arose. the people said if they- had known He was. Lord they would not have killed Hint. This' is just the same. Te Whiti is right m not. giving up Hiroki. Hiroki only killed a man, and what you kill is bigger than a man— the lpind. The people oome froni the earth— the man is nothing, the land is everything. Winiata, who murdered a man for nothing, is with the King and Rewi, who are friendly with the Government. Why does not the Government ask for Winiata to be given up by their friends, and not ask Te Whiti to give np Hiroki l The King and Rewi do not believe mTe Whiti. They did believe m him, but Te Whiti said they would turn against him, and they have done so. The Te Aro and Ngatiporau tribesdjld not believe m Te Whiti. but about l^H the King Natives do. I think ab^| 7000 Natives believe m Te Whiti J^M Tohu.- I believe thfere will •be no m^H ploughing after this month. Qur d^H are different from, yours j your firsi^H our seqond qf the month, but why alteration was made by Te Whiti I^^| not' know. None of the people ]^^| would leave, if offered £20 each, i^H they are returned by the Governn^^H as has been prophesied. We do^^| think of our wives or childred—^^B would be wrong.