Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1906. THE MAORI MESSIAH.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10659, 12 May 1906, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1906. THE MAORI MESSIAH.

I lie natives Df this 1 district profess to know nu thing cuncerniiig the new ".Messiah," whose advent is reported from Rotonui. The Maori mind lias always been very susceptible to fanaticism of this sorb, and there have been several instances m this district of religious and medical impostors who have" 6ecured large follow ings, the most recent being Wercca, a faith-healing quack, who, though he created quite a sensation among the local tribes for a brief period, soon found his power ou the wane, and ho migrated to the Wairarapa and! West Coast' districts, where for some time he secured many disciples. The statement m the Rotortia telegram that Hua is a son of Te Kooti is questioned by local Maoris, who* declare that. Te Kooti had but one son, Wetiini Kitirangi, who is now resident here, and is regarded by Europeans as one of the bust natives iv this district. The Te Kooti movement years ago was initiated by somewat the same methods as Rua is adopting— the '-claim to supernatural powers and practise of mystical rites — but -though superstition dies hard with the older natives the advance of education amongst tho Maoris m this district at anyvnte lias made it very improbable that Rua, if he comes here, will secure many followers. At the same time there is no telling how fanaticism, if once given a favorable start, may spread, and should tho new prophet happen to drop m on Poverty Bay at an early dale he might find tlio opportunity not unfavorable for the spread of his doctrines, for the reason thac. a very large native assemblage is about to be held near Gisborns to tangi ov«r tho death of Pcka Kerekere, ohe of Te Kooti's foremost henchmen m the time of the war, and who even m, recent years has stood to hau-hau traditions. The arrival of Rua at such a time might inflame the natives and lead to trouble. In any case a visit from the prophet arid the contingent of five hundred followers, which is said to be with him, is not to be welcomed, for the reason that the Maoris of this dis- . trict, through the failure of their potato I crops are not m a position to support such a multitude, as support them they would, with the customary "generosity of their race, feel m honor bound to do. The local natives would, despite the prophet's professed ability to feed a host upon a few small loaves and fishes and a hundredweight of flour, quickly find their i food supplies depleted, and they would be left to starve for the winter. The Government should put an end to this sort of nonsense, and give Mr Rua a plain indication that not His Majesty the King but His Majesty's servants m blue will be waiting for him on arrival m Gisborne, and that the Vagrancy Act or some other salutary measure ■wiU'be exercised ou his behalf.' Gisborne is certainly übt hankering after the million pound tabernacle that he proposes to build, any more tlian it is after the company of a crowd of fanatics with notions of sweeping the pakeha into the sea.