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THE MAORI MIRACLE MAN.

A “Herald” roporjQr paid -n, visit to. Katana- on Finlay seek an interview Avilli Tohn Ratana, “the .Ma’dri miracle, man,” Imp. was doomed-to disappointment, as Tohn had left for Patea before our reporter arrived. Tolm’s.. pah is situated a I’cav miles from After climbing,"the Turakina lii&ftjUg,. “roaihvrau'heS Oil tile main' roadJjJp: wards the sea, and Avimls down and round a yalier, and up again to tfiT . land.. Here is the pah,'pleasantly situated, if exposed to 1 lie westerly breeze from (lie broad Pacific, distant about: two miles. A quarter of a mile from jhe pah is the Ratana railway Hag,Ration. Owing to, the influx of 'visitors, the railway authorities have notified that ail trains will slop at the little station, and travellers may gel a good the pah from the train. Prior v to our ' arrival, there lmd been an exodus of Natives to all partsWif the Dominion, and tlui place presented a somewhat deserted appearance. 'A large marquee and a* few typical Maori dwellings, a church recently erected in’the orthodox style, and a neat-looking residence constituted the habitations. Numerous ten's lmd been erected to house visitors, Iml have now been taken doAVii.

Several Maoris'came Jo meet: our representative, and courteously offered to show him-round and talk about Toliu. We'were-Taken to the meeting house, Avhcre the mirael-es were performed —-*a low roofed, long dwelling, Avith one door and two windows at the opposite eml. The straw for sleeping purposes was being relaid on'either sideojj the floor upon'our entrance, and although very stuffy owing to the heat, everything Avas clean within. .At the opposite end to the entrance’ was a wooden box, within which avc were shown various articles wliieli had been discarded by the -patients. Hanging nearby was a bundle of discarded spectacles pf alUdeseripiions, and suspended from the wall were crutches,, walking sticks of all shapes mid Thicknesses, and an invalid’s chair —trophies of ’folia’s curative power. Also on a shelf were numerous bottles and pots containing medicines and liniments left as mementoes by those who had been cured.

Our guide informed us that Toliu did not claim supernatural power. He said lie made Ibis quite clear In Ills patients. We were informed j hat or.. the previous night several persons arrived to be treated. One had Nip trouble, and could only get about with flie aid of sticks, another had paralysis of'-the arm, which member had been practically useless for over nine months. After religious service, Toliu asks each one in turn the nature of tliek. ailments. He then calls upon them to express a ,belief in God, and the necessity for regeneration and the giving up o\sinful habits. The treatment Avhiel> IATfoW* is, from what we could gather fmpQ our informant, in the lrittpr*’*" l ' nut n„-

was asked'* 0 amble a long, in imita-

ti o j. ~r”fohu. which was done, and /imi Tohu comma tided .; : him to thrown down Hie sticks to the door, which the patient did. He was then informed that he- would feel much better and stronger in the morning. The man with the paralysed arm was also told to imitate Total's movements, and within a few minutes the patient was moving his arm freely. Our representative did not see any of tliejmtienfs who had been treated, as they had been sent cm their way rejoicing.

(far representative .was, informed that the treatment was primarily for the Maori people, and that it was not necessary for, l lie patients to come into personal contact with Tolm, but that if’they wrote to him, selling forth the nature of their trouble, and a faith in, his curative poiver, he could treat them just as well by correspondence. In conversation with a resident of Turakina, who has known Tohu ITo'm childhood, we were inforniei? that Tolars father, Wirimu Ratann, was a Bilile student,'as.is Tohu. The latter, however, up to-q Jjpw years ago, spent a good deal of flis time ill the pleasures of the world, and we wore informed that his change of life i- as marvellous as some of his miraculous cures.

Toliu's notoriety lias spread far and wide, and many afflicted pakchas are looking forward hope to a visit to this remarkable man.

In conversation with a wellknown Wanganui medical man on I l.e' subject, lie said emphatically that he had no reason to doubt that many of the canes treated were genuine. Toliu’s methods should be known to all medical men, and numerous eases of blindness and paralysis, the result of shell-shock, had been successfully treated by autosuggestion. Apart altogether from war cases, similar treatment was given successfully by the same, method in case.- which had their cause outside,, defined organic . diseases, Tohu's maim would cyme to ' an end when lie failed to successfully treat the pakelm. The Maoris were emotional and susceptible, and so long as lie kept to the people of his own race, so long would his maim continue, bub in his opinion, the treatment of the pakeha would bring about his undoing. He did not deprecate Tohu's work, but on the other hand'considered (hat fie should be encouraged. His treatment to the laymen appeared 'miraculous,’ but to the skilled medical man it was common practice. There were hundreds of people subject to peculiar mental troubles which created physical infirmities, which c-ould « only be successfully treated by* auto-suggestion and massage.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19210104.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2222, 4 January 1921, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
895

THE MAORI MIRACLE MAN. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2222, 4 January 1921, Page 2

THE MAORI MIRACLE MAN. Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2222, 4 January 1921, Page 2

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