“END OF WORLD.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20363, 21 July 1934, Page 11

“END OF WORLD.”

Expected To-day at Maroi Settlement. STRANGE OCCURRENCE. Per Press Association, AUCKLAND. July 21. ' The Maori settlement known as Waitarata; between Clevedon and Kawakawa Bay, has been disorganised for the past week because of the credence given by its inhabitants to the dream of one man that the end of the world would come to-dav. In the dream the man saw a spirit descending from heaven with messages, including the announcement that the end of the world Would come to-day, and the Maoris would get back their land and the unrestricted right to take what birds and animals they wanted. The man’s daughter, strongly influenced by the dream, announced that she was a reincarnation of the Holy Ghost and promised a new era for the Maoris.

The effect of these happenings on the others was that they ceased work and refused in some cases to take money, while others threw away their One gave awa)” his motorcycle.

There are 12 men, 26 women and about 20 children in the settlement. Some of the older adults went without food for some days and the children were allowed to go almost naked. \ arious rumours spread .in the district and eventually a police constable removed one >*oung Maori to a mental hospital. He returned to the pa with Anglican and Presbyterian clergymen, who found the natives in an excited state, praying and singing. Eventually they were persuaded to resume their normal lives.