Page 3 Advertisements Column 4

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 40, 3 October 1914, Page 3

At the Patea S.M. Court on Thursday n charge of tohungaism, partly heard on the previous court day, and preferred against Poi Awarua, of Little Taranaki, was continued. The defence to the charge by the prosecution that the defendant bad held himself out as a prophet and as being possessed of the Holy Ghost was that he had spoken merely in a figurative sense, and that all the clean of heart who believed in the Christian God could possess the Holy Ghost. Mr O’Dea, who appeared for the defendant, pointed out that there were plenty of European tohungas—-clairvoy-ants, faith-healers, and such like—who carried on their practices for the purposes of exploiting the public; but even if the Magistrate found the defendant guilty, there was no suggestion that ho had made money by what he had done. Counsel pointed out that it was impossible to expect .the native race to reach in the few years they had had of European civilisation to the standard of moral ideals that the European possessed, and that their old traditions and beliefs were still largely ingrained in their nature. The Magistrate'(Mr Ken rick, S.M.), in convicting the defendant aftd fining him £lO and costs, said thafc had it not been for the fact that the defendant had not made money out of his practices he would have sentenced him to a term of imprisonment instead of merely fining him. It might be necessary in future to deal more severely, so that Maoris in cases of illness or disease would resort to European doctors and not to their tohungas.