MAORIS ATTACKED BY MOVIE CRAZE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 143, 7 September 1927, Page 13

MAORIS ATTACKED BY MOVIE CRAZE

MAKING TE KOOTI FILM REALISTIC DEATH SCENE (Special to THE SUN.) WHAKATANE, To-day. A young Maori film actor, Tom Tunui, was rehearsing death scenes in his backyard on Monday with a friend who fired at him point-blank with a 12-bore shotgun loaded with blank ammunition obtained while the boys were taking part in the “Te Kooti Trail” bush fighting scenes. The wads from the cartridges hit Tunui over the right ear, making a severe scalp wound and rendering him tinconscious. Dr. Cronin attended the patient, who is progressing favourably. There has been a regular epidemic of “movieitis” among the natives since the producer, Mr. Rudall Hayward, and his film company arrived here. The Maoris have been rehearsing for weeks, falling qff horses at full gallop, and doing other bareback riding stunts. The workers engaged in rebuilding the walls of Te Poronui Redoubt have been searching for a bottle of sovereigns which was supposed to be hidden by John the Frenchman before Te Kooti raided the place, but the only discovery as yet has been the gate chain and portions of a human skeleton, including a skull, believed to be that of one of the attacking Hau Haus. The producer leaves to-morrow for the Urewera Country to make final scenes of the film at Te Kooti’s historic meeting-house, one of the largest in Xew Zealand. Trouble is anticipated with a section of the natives who still regard Te Kooti as a god.