existence, that it would be quite impossible not to include it in a Maori magazine. ‘Te Ao Hou's’ policy is to report on all matters of interest to our readers, except that we do not concern ourselves with politics. This is too complex and contentious a subject, and one too closely bound up with personalities, for a quarterly magazine such as this, with limited space at its disposal, to concern itself with. We do not, therefore, discuss the political aspects of the Ratana Movement here. But we feel that many of our readers, especially those people who do not belong to the Movement, and to whom some of the facts may be unfamiliar, would be interested in a brief account of the history of the early years of the Ratana Church. In times of uncertainty and unhappiness there are always leaders who arise with a message for the people, and to act as their mouth-piece. And very often, since religion is an expression of men's deepest emotions, these leaders preach a new version of the old religion: that is, they are prophets. It is not only among Maoris that prophets have appeared; they are to be found wherever a society is faced with the break-up of its old customs, and with a sudden and confusing period of adjustment to new, alien ways of life. They were and still are very common in Africa, for instance, and they were to be found throughout the Pacific.

Many Maori Prophets There have been very many such prophets among the Maori; the best known ones were Te Kooti, the founder of the Ringatu Church, and Te Whiti of Taranaki, who also founded a religious movement which still survives. In Taranaki at the turn of the century, Te Whiti and his disciple Tohu were still alive.