RUA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 444, 1 March 1909, Page 8

RUA.

ENIGMA" OF THE UREWERA COUNTRY. PROPHET-POLITICIAN.... 'A GLIMPSE OF HIS KINGDOM. . |It is now somo two or tlireo sinco 1 Rua first appeared as a mail with a mission. Ho started vulgarly enough as a sort of a tonunga-prophet, with- wild stories of a coming visit to Now Zealand by King Edward, who was to romovo all tho pakohas Mid restore tho Maori to his own; also of a tidal wavo, - which was to wipo out tho wicked whites and spare only thoso aboriginals who sought an elevated sanctuary along with tho prophet. Among them were to be parcelled ■ out in due proportion the lands and property -of the doomed pakeha.. - • • • Those wero tho days-when a Maori in'ltuatoki rode up to a white man and said: "That ' is a fine camp-oven you have. I like it. Don't damago that camp-oven. After you are gone I intend to have it." And lie spurred off to lay formal claim to somo other .chattel of. his; prospective ownership. ,Those were, also the days when Maoris near Ruatoki cut a broad fair track' through the scrub, leading up the brow of a ridge, so that they might be able to make rapid retreat, from the: oncoming delugo. ~ • Many,, more strongly moved,; sold their horses and carts, their, stock, even their little 1 weathor--1 board houses(if' .they possessed suchVand went to live in Rua's own citadel in tho heart of the Urewera country, at tho foot of the sacred and mysterious mountain,' the dwell-ing-place of the dead, Maunga-pohatu. very " quickly arose here the now. native township of Maunga-pohatu, surely the largest kainga in Now Zealand, with its pa-tapu and its in> i posing circular temple, a triumph of Maeri' architecture, hereinafter to bo desoribe^jy' And Rua Tapunui, son of lienana. and -Ngahiwi, entitled ofbirth-to no particular prominence in his tribe, .became Rua Hepitipa " Mehaia " (Messiah). If anyop.o doubts lot him consult the: trade-mark displayed in pointed w;ooden letters over the sacred portal of tho pa-tapu at Maunga-pohatu. * •• - In. tho callow days of his prophothood Rua ■was but a clumsy .performer. Ho,was even unwise enough—or was he - rOiiUy his own dupe?—to give tho coming disasters, a . date, and . was thus, of course, "bowled out" inevitably by effluxion of time. Any ordinary aggregation of befooled persons would Tent tho idol asunder, but tho disciples of the Mehaia are made of more than ordinary 1 stuff — or, perhaps, tho Mehaia himself I.is. How-he explained it all away to them is not clear ; at any rate, his' mana did not appreciably decline. If you chaff <1' loyal disciplev as to those falsified prophecies, the chances ' are that he will maintain a dignified silence. ■ And what elso could ho do? ■; * '* * * Tha Financial Test. • TJp to this stage .Rua had clearly demonstrated his pre-eminent'power to fool.all the people somo of the time and some of the . people all tho'time.' But a further test was required of him —the financial ono. A spurious seer may continue to flourish, but only while the treasury is full; for though tho memory of a bad prophecy may fade, that of an uncollected debt is apt to bo abiding. However much- .Rua's , followers might be prepared to deny themselves to support, the prophet, they could'not give more than thjir all, which many of them, it would seem, had : already given. Their eventual impoverishment would mean the end of the business, unless, indeed, it'should be' carried'•'on'_ in somo attenuated form by no means 'in keeping with the Mehaia's ideas of the importance of . his mission and' His personal equation. Rua might drink the cup to the full, livo lavishly till the financial breaking-point arrived, and then step down from the large, round doublestoriwl temple to - primeval raup'o whare. Or, on the other hand, he might give a purposo to his quaint society by teaching it to toil and spin,"to be' reproductive; and .eventually self-supporing. -That would he, playing his. followers' game) also his.,own...• ' The latter taskrequired'the evolving of a system, and a, system' administrator.' And, strange to say-rand'this is the most remarkable fact of all—Rua Hepitipa, one-time Rua Tapunui, appears to bo really "tackling the job." It ..is. at this point that the primeval tohunga suddenly develops into the man-of-affairs. : Already." at Maunga-: pohatu the Maoris _ have . accomplished an amount of work which probably no power on earth could have extracted from them save their soul-compelling superstition, played on by. a master hand. They claim—this is. on the official word of Makarini Teahurn, Secretary, to the Mehaia —-that in tho last two 1 years they ,havo -felled and sown in grass 730 acres, and : have felled; 290 acres. preparatory to 'sowing, making a total area in grass (including patches cleared in former years, for Maunga-pohatu is an ancient clearing), of 1447 acres.' How the land measurement ■ was arrived'at'is not clear, but the abovo are the exact figures as set out in'the-admirable! I hand-writing of -Makarini _ Tehuru, who 1 naively adds:i"lt only remains to_ stock the iland." For, after all, Rua's'incipient farmcolony is only on tho first rung of tho ladder; to carry it upward,'he makes an excursion into .high politics, and proposes'to cut'the knot that strangles the Native lands:

A Picturesque Personality. The : project of the Mebaia, as expounded by himself on a recent balmy evening within the sacred precincts of the pa-tapu, is in effect, to induce his followers to unite in selling to tho Government. lOOjOOO acres of their land, in order to obtain capital to improve the. remainder. The aboriginal who can drop with such facility from the heights of prophecy to the, swampy depths of the native and question is clearly no ordinary person, and is 'entitled to something in tho way of personal pen skotch. Ho met tho visitor in front of his private abode, a double-ridged house on tho crest of tho slope on which tho now Maunga-pohatu has been built, and rejoicing in tho distinction of being made with sawn timber ancT lined (other wliares, with oiio oxcoption, being of 'split palings), whilo a ruberoid roof and a'verandah further serve to convey tho fact that this is the place whore Royalty dwells. On the verandah recline three or four of tho Mehaia's nino wives —young luxuriant wahines, whoso large eyes follow tho movements of their earthy Adonis and spiritual lord. He, the centro of all this disturbance, its fous et origo, is a singularly. affable man, and, moreover, a handsome one. His figure atalwart, well-knit, and upstanding, features good, eyes actually : beautiful. A coat of dark cloth, well-fitting,' and looking as though "just out of tho box," covers a neat shirt of soft material, on .which blazes a deep blue tie, well suiting tho swarthy complexion. Riding breeches and, leggings go to complete a natty attire; but ouo had nearly forgotten the grey felt hat, perhaps tho most notable item of all, for it is attached to the luxuriant black hair with a lady's hatpin I An odour of scent also emanates from tho Mehaia, for, if King Louis was tho First Gentleman of Franco, Rua is certainly tho First Dandy of the Urewera. Everything indicates an almost elfeminato discrimination, and shows that the Mehaia is a past master in the art of appearances and poses. 'With' his blue tio and hatpin and gaiters and riding whip ho might pass on Lambton Quay for a well-to-do foreign gentleman, or, with a few alterations, ho might mnko a fortune for Bland Holt as tlio Brigand Chief. Forty odd summers have passed over Rua, and ho carries them lightly. Ho is wonderfully fluent of speech, and as ho "orates" his cyo kindles, and the hands are often clasped. To all this add a strong touch of unmistakable personal magnetism. * « « * ' pa-tapu and Temple. | Rua conducts the visiter through the "streets" (not 66ft. wide) of the partapu. It is explained that from this' sacred enclosure all cooking and eating houses aro excluded, theso occupying tho gully and slopes outside tho dividing-fence. (It is an ancient religious, and perhaps sanitary, observance of tho Maori that cooked food should not enter tho sleeping place.) Tho pa-tapu contains Una's Tcskicnco abovcmcntioncdj the teniplo, anil—according to tho "official" return—42 sleeping houses, a "post office," and saddlerepairing and shoe-repairing houses; also a tj&X alid aesthetic .element in kaingas, to

wit, flowor gardens, of which thoro aro fivo. Boyond the walls of tho pa-tapu, are 52 cooking or oating placcs, a largo meeting room and dining-room for visitors, and 32 storehouses. The figures aro imposing, but :t must bo-noted at the samo time that pro-, bably-every littlo pataka or rabbit-hutch has been pressed into service to mako tho total ; that tho quality of tho structures is hardly in proportion to the quantity, as tho (iso of green timber has < resulted. 111 considerable discrepancies appearing over and abovo the legitimate needs of ventilation; and that 111 any, :caso the number of tenements is not a certain index to tho number of inhabitants. Just now Maunga-pohatu is rather empty of men, though Rua declares them to bo only temporary absentees. Within tho pa-tapu everything is clean and nicely kept, and the angle of slopo is suitablo for drainago Pl How e shall ono describo tho tomplo? Build a circular house, somo 18ft. .high, and 40ft. in diameter; then construct a circular houso 20ft. in diameter, and put it on top of tho larger one; add a split palmg root where required,. and you havo Rua's tomplo. Tho remarkable effect of such architccturo is enhanced by a wonderful coat of -paint, a white body being relieved with blue and yellow figuring, tho principal objects depicted beinf apparently tho diamonds and clubs of a card-pack, or perhaps the "club" is meant to bo a shamrock. Tho visitor Tvas not invited to enter tho holy of holies, and the meaning of tho grotesque designs is a matter of conjecture. Cryptic letters appear over the gateways of tho pa-tapu, along lwth something resembling Masonic signs, and tlie afore-mentioned legend "Mehaia. Jus® outside tho temple is a pulpit, from which are delivered by the Mehaia many soul-stirnng harangues. * « * Rua as Reformer. ' Standing near the foot of tho pulpit stairs, by the threshold of his 3acred edifice, Rua Khjglares that ho has united 3CO followers m the common desiro to sell a portion of their land in order to raiso capital, to farm tho balance. Tho further difficulty ofi uniting their land interests, now scattered about m different blocks, does not appall him—ho has already "approached tho Government" 011 this subject. A few questions aro addressed by tho ' visitor leading up to the matter of a Maori • socialism with Rut as , director and patriarch, but the reformer evades that bait. Ho will, he says, himself individualise tho land of his people,, and put each upon his own lot, after which each man must earn his reward by the sweat ,of his brow, selling tho product of his land as he likes, and the money he receives in return .ho may bank in a European bank,, or in "our bank here," or, if he likes, "throw it in the creek." Apparently, Rua is an individualist. ,J.f ,ho makes roads, he will tax his followers by . and by to ■ defray the cost thoreof: also,-ho would like the Government to giv© him tno revenue of the dog tax, which he would raise from 2s.'6d. to ss. So much for the Mehaia's- treasury plans. As to the 100,000 acres he proposes to sell to the Government, he would be prepared to share equally with the Government tho ' cost of making.a road to open it up. No Maori who takes land under Rua's scheme is to be allowed to sell, except to a Maori. All this .takes an hour or two to tell 141 florid Maori, accompanied with many a dramatic gesture. Gradually, in ones, and twos and,threes, Rut's people gather round to hear their mentor instruct tho pakeha. They dwell on each word, and laugh at every .sally." Old men and children, ancient dames ,and gaudy wahiiies, a long-haired individual with a fearsome/ gathering on his face, and sundry mongrel, dogs malco up a motley assemblage. Then as twilight deepens into dark the Mohaia his peroration, smiles, gaily, his "baere-a-a," and retires with ; obvious, ..consciousness, that he has proved equal to every emergency. To do him justice, ho is never stuck for an answer, and his whole argnment shows far more than a superficial knowledge of pakeha methods and ideas. • *. ■ * * Tho Future—s ' Of course, he has many hugo obstacles before him. The consolidation of Native interests in-- one block, a task which seems to havo : defied ' the Native land tribunals, cannot bo accomplished ,by speeches in florid Maori. Rua's scliemo is' apparently impossible without a complete new outfit of Government legislation, and the undertaking bristles with many of the' old difficulties. Tho remarkable thing is that a man holding in Maori life the unique position occupied by Rua, should have forsaken so suddenly the paths of barbaric sooth-sayiug for those of civilised'polity'. .Sinco tho pakchadestroying delugo did not come, he will accept the situation and co-operate with the white . Government towards - attaining Maori objects—including his own personal ones. Possibly, after all, the crude prophet busi--1 ness was only the ladder by which this astute ..politician climbed into public notico —it is genorally good advertisement to make a noiso. .. -, \ Having ascended the bridle-track to the ; saddle on the opposite side of the valley, en route to Ruatahuna and pakeha civilisation, tho visitor pauses to take a last look at Maunga-pohatu—at the- mountain, itself, rearing its long back and massive rock pillars four-thousand .odd-feet above sea-level; also ; at tho kainga, clinging to the lower slopes, with the circular temple of Rua in the foreground.' Rua can with justice claim that all that Maori hands have accomplished in Maunga-pohatu within tho last two years is really his personal work; but for him, not a single tree would have been felled, not a single building would have arisen. "He wrought it who inspired its execution." But can he carry to a conclusion tho work which, beginning so, meanly, 110 now outlines forth with such remarkable ingenuity and force? Can he make the Maori a farmer as well as a builder; or is Maungapohatu to become a farce and a plaything like tho Maori councils invented by the pakeha? Tho judgment of time will decide; but in tho meantime there is this to be said: that Rua has taken up by far the most effective weapon that the situation affords., The one great motive power of Maori life is' the force of superstition.