THE PARIHAKA MEETING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 20 November 1880, Page 2

THE PARIHAKA MEETING.

(by telegraph.) "Wellington, November 19. The Parihaka meeting was held on Wednesday last, and was attended by about 1400 natives, the majority being women and children. The preparations for the feast were on an unusually large scale. Hiroki was busily officiating in dividing the food, and had the superintendence of the commissariat department generally. The natives assembled at the meetinghouse at 10 o'clock, and Te Whiti commenced his harangue. He betrayed less complacency than usual, and was at times rather irritable.

i, Te Whiti began his speech with a j translation from the Bible. He said that ) at the creation of the world all things r were ordered by God to happen that did r happen. All things that had happened recently were also preordained by God, whether important or unimportant, • whether for good or evil. All things which had already taken place or which > would hereafter take place on the earth l were brought forth by the fiat of God. i The evils which would appear during the present epoch, by wars and contentions aipong men, were a'so permitted by i the great God, and were ordered of old. ; The wars of our own time were foretold i in the Scriptures, as well as the wars of , the preceding generations. Man could not alter any of the decrees of the Supreme ; Ruler, strive as he might. In the early i period of the world's history good and bad were intermingled. The people now on earth should not shut their eyes to the teachiug derived from former ages. They should be on their guard lest what happened formerly would occur again, and bad would be found to mingle with good. " Listen carefully. The thing which happened before shall be altered to-day, and shall be conducted differently henceforth. All old things shall pass away. War shall cease, and shall no longer create disunion in the world. The race of the first man, Adam, has fallen over many precipices, but those precipices have now disappeared by numerous landslips, and none shall fall over thQse precipices again. From the beginning of all things, even before the creation of the world, it was ordained that I should speak to you this day upon this subject. My words to-day shall be few, but I wish to warn you that there is one precipice left, over which you njust all go. That precipice is death. It is not the man who tells you this, but the Father. The statesmen, old and young, are like the pig writhing in agony after having been all but killed by the slaughterman.. The one precipice which has not been levelled is death, and we must all die as the pig does. All the prophecies of the Bible have come to pass. No portion has been omitted. Nothing has been added, and nothing taken away. Today is the day appointed for mankind to live in peace. You must not be afraid of death, You must remember the nearer you are to death, the nearer also you are to life. The things that were done of old were to lead up to the things of the present day. One cliff is left as an enemy and a sn&re. and it was ordained to be so from the beginning. The prophecies of old have come to pass, and we shall also see the prophecies of the present times come to pass. War is for ever iended. It was prophesied to come to an end in these times, and the customs of war shall now be done away. If a pole is not securely, fastened for a ridge-pole of a house it will' break. Thus shall both Maoris and Europeans break ; Lhey will separate from each other as they cannot agree." At the conclusion of Te Whiti'sspeech, : Mr. Parris espayed. to speak, but Te Whiti i stopped him. ; Te "\Vhiti said he wished i Parris to speak on the following day. Mr, i

Parr is replied to-morrow was an uncertain time, and no one could rely upon it. He would be willing to speak after Tohu if Te Whiti did not object. Were he delayedspeaking till to-morrow, to-morrow might never come. Te Whiti : " Precisely. Speak on the day that never comes. When a dog flies at a pig it does so on the word of its master, and not of its own will. If you, Parris, have anything to say, it will not be your own words." Mr. Parris:—"l have addressed you all on many occasions, and you cannot say that I ever deceived you. Te Whiti is leading you astray." Te Whiti: —" Your speech will be the words of your chief, not your own. Let your superior come and speak for himself. Where is he ? "

Mr. Parris "Do you consider yourself so great and important that my chief should come to you 1 You are secretly afraid to let me address the people, lest I separate them from you when they hear my words." "Te Whiti My words are few. Black and white will never agree, and cannot therefore be joined." Mr. Parris " I did not say I was trying to join black and white." The conversation was here cut short by Te Whiti giving the signal for the meeting to break up. The native all arose and left the meeting-house. Thus ended another of the great Parihaka meetings.