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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 891, 13 December 1870, Page 3

A correspondent supplies the following to the Lyttelton Times of the 30th ult.: —The Maoris, as a rule, are nearly all afflicted with a considerable amount of superstition. Those who are resident at Port Levy do not form any exception to the rule. They have a perfect belief that the ghost of every Maori who dies revisits the haunts of his childhood, and that the house and laud belonging to the deceased must not be re-occupied by any one unless the " tapu " which is supposed by them to be laid on the property after the owner's decease, is removed. Until the last week the fishing at Port Levy has been anythiug but good or profitable, and altogether a sort of stagnation in trade among the Maoris has occurred, a mortality has taken place'among the children, and sickness has prevailed to a considerable extent. It is supposed, however, that all these evils are now to be removed by the Maori prophet Hepa, who arrived at Port Levy on 23rd inst. from Timaru, by way of Little River. He has been anxiously looked for, and is supposed to be able to take the tapu off the houses and land of deceased Maoris, to disperse the ghosts of the departed, to take away sickness and death from the native children, and to bring a supply of fish into the bay which is equal to the " miraculous draught of fishes." This seer also has the power, according to the Maoris, of informing the losers of property where to find it; of healing the wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores of the sick ; and of ministering to the wants of the superstitious among the natives in divers other ways. The Prophet Hepa passed through Mr Fleming's stockyard at Port Levy, on the 23rd inst., riding on a white horse, accompanied by 48 followers on horseback and about 10 on foot. He is a man of middling height, good looking, with grey whiskers, combed out in European fashion, and in fact, unless you had known who he was, a passer-by might have mistaken him for a dark complexioned son of Albion. He has a clerk with him, who attends on his wants and acts as his secretary. The procession marched two deep with the prophet in the middle, and the foot followers bringing up the rear, and halted at the pa at Port Levy. The road travelled from Little River by this possessor of the magic wand was cat especially for his passage through the bush by the Maoris of Port Levy, who have been engaged at the. task for some time previous to his arrival. He is to hold a " korero " at Port Levy, which is to last a week. The first meeting took place on the night of the 23rd inst., and was kept up until five o'clock on the following morning. There were upwards of 100 Maoris of the district, besides the prophets following, present at the meeting, and the proceedings were conducted with great regularity and ceremony. The meeting took place in a house belonging to one of the prophet's believers, as it was impossible for him to hold his meeting in Ihe church, owing to part of the Maoris at Port Levy believing iu his powers, and part of them putting him down, not exactly as an impostor, but as a fanatic. A leading article in tho Auckland Evening News, Dec. 6, concludes thus; — Whenever the protectionists of Auckland pass by the Queen street market place in future, they must look upon it as the survivors of the martyrs formerly did upon Sinithfield. The wagon in which standing room was reserved for the President of the League,—who did not, however, put in an appearance, —and in which the immortal five, who held up their hands for protection, stood, amid the derisive cheers of those upon whom they looked as their supporters, should be preserved as the relic of a by-gone barbarous age. The market place itself would have been none the worse for a good sprinkling of chloride of lime after last Saturday's meeting, had not Mr Bright and Mr Swan given it such a cleansing at the close by the airing of their free trade opinions in it. Not that we are so simple as to believe that we shall hear no more of protection. The abettors of these foolish doctrines canuot do without appealing to the masses. They want to rob the common hive, and in order to do this, are sure to keep buzzing round all who attempt to guard it, and to endeavor to sting tnem. But they will never venture on another open air meeting. When they want to persuade the people again that dear bread and butter, dear meat and clothing, are good things, they will go to the Mechanics', or to some other place, where, as on Thursday its', after inviting discussion, the President of

the League can, on the slightest difference of opinion being expressed, vacate the chair, and declare the meeting at an end. As five minutes before Moses struck the rock at Horeb, the whole of the Israelites would have declared that there was no water in it, so five minutes before the league's " Monster Meeting " on Saturday last, the whole of the Auckland protectionists would have said there was no desire for free trade here. 'But five minutes after, they themselves were obliged to confess that the last naii had been driven in the coffin of protection. In less time than that even, the report had run like wild fire from one end of the city to the other that free trade opinions were in the ascendant.