THE PROPHET RUA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 87, 18 March 1916, Page 6

THE PROPHET RUA.

AN AMAZING STORY. FOLLOWERS ARMED WITH MAXIM GUNS AND MAUSERS. An amazing story of the condition M affairs in the Urejyera country «s told by an Englishman who has arrived in Wellington alter resitting for some time in the vicinity of Rua's stronghold, says a correspondent of the Auckland Star. According to this gentleman, things are very serious regarding the attempts to arrest "The Prophet," and the arrest will not be effected without (to say the. least) con-: siderable unpleasantness. The gentleman is Mr K. F. Bressey, who has been teaching in the native school at Te Whaiti, and is now on his way to join the British Army. Regarding a recent attempt to arrest Rua, Mr Bressey says that a force; of live went out., under police control,: and came upon Rua some distance from Maungapohatu, which is his headquarters. He had about one hundred of his followers with him, and he was out lifting the tapu off a certain dwelling house. This he was doing in the capacity of high priest. The head of the police party read Rua the warrant for his arrest, but Rua refused to. accompany the expedition back to civilisation, saying , that he would never be arrested by any Government men. He took off his coat and dared them to take him. ; -..,

WILL RESIST ARREST. "There is no doubt." continued Mr Bressey, "that Rua and some of his followers are armed, and he is noj moving about now without an armed bodyguard. I am certain he intends to resist arrest, hilt as a British subject, the thing that I object to is the fact that the King's warrant cartnot be executed in the Frewera district. A big principle is involved, and the. present unsatisfactory state of affairs >s having a very dangerous effect on the Maoris. Tf he can do this there is some reason for their saying that he must have some mysterious power. Moreover, if he breaks the law, and then defies the police, others are sure to emulate him." WELL-ARMED BODYGUARD.

There is a deeply sinister side to the. story. '-It is .suspected very strongly that German influence has crept into even the'Urewera country. Rua is,;.be T Hayed io : have a marhine-gun at l his stronghold, and it is taken as an accepted fact that he has a fair store < fother arms.. Mr Bressey sa.fs that Rua told him that he was possessed of a-maxim gun,- hut Mr Bressey did not see it. However, he did notico .that Rua carried a Mauser pistol. If thrf- wjly .Maori is. as well armed r as" meh who know the Urnwera reckon he is, and is prepared to resist arrest, there may he considerable trouble in taking him. The country is of a most inaccessible character, and Maungapohatn is scores of miles from anywhere with little in the way of! ,raiding to get there by. The distance, from Rotoriia is 85 miles, and the distance from Whakatane 66 miles. The way in from Gisborne is said to be strongly guarded by the,.followers *.f !theV|nan who 'is defying the officers of the-Crown. ' This* system iofV defiance has been a valuable Rua, ; a(M cording-to M,r r ;Bressey;.ii ~ "'.'

FOXjRTEEN WIVES AND TWENTY-.: , ■;| FIVE CHILDREN. '?His'., raana has been derived, through dlfying tbe Government over and over again. When T was there at Christmas, 1914, he had loiirteen wives and twenty five children. fie, had been allowed to do that kind of thing that no white man would be allowed to do. It may be said for h'ini: that.it. was right under old Maori custom,; but that supposition is wrong.: for Rua is not a rangatira, but is: slave horn, and therefore is allowed only one wife. A tale has even been: spread, in the Urewera that the.OJer-j mans are going to take INew Zealand and give back to the Maoris the land now held bv the white men.

MISGUIDED FOLLOW fSRS. "Rua started very shrewdly. In] the first place, he said to the natives,: 'You have a lot of land bere. If you don't look out the Government will take it. You had better give it to me, and I will look after it for you.' They gave him the land, and one day one of the natives found himself warned' off property which had been held by him for years before the cession to Rua. Rua told the former owner that the land was now his, and that if anyone wanted to use it, they must, of course, buy it from him. The result was thai' Rua sold the land back to the Maoris in quarter-acre sections —or rather a small portion of the land.

A BANK THAT "BUSTED." "Then Una said: 'We must have a bank.' So the Maoris bad to sell everything (curios and all), ami the money was banked. Tlie terms were that .Rua was to pay them 5 per cent, on all money left there on fixed deposit, and that they were to pay him 20 per cent, on all withdrawals. The bank is now (as the Maoris B«5')

I 'bust.' I i KUA'S BIG TEMPLE, ... , : I "Bua's temple 'at Maungapohatit w an extraordinary structure. It. is a huge circular building, with a very I fiat root', unsupported by pillars, and the 'i'ropbet' naturally does not nuss the chance to explain that it i" *}K~~' I tained by faith'. In the middle is a i raised dias, around which sit. the j twelve apostles. The apostles are

'permanent fixtures.' but when they take their seats they do not know which particular apostle they are to be for the occasion. A revolving table with a dozen divisions hold the secrets. Into each division is placed the name of an apostle, and when the table stops revolving each follower of Rua discovers whether lie »s I'eier, Matthew, Thomas, or John by extracting the paper from the division which stops opposite to him. Rua, as the. Messiah, has a little cupola up near the roof and welt above the apostles. "Such is the man whom the police seek to arrest, The whole thing is regarded by some as a recrudescence of Te Kooti. Rua says that the mantle of Te Kooti has fallen upon him. To a great extent he has gone out of the Messiah business. He is the Maori Kaiser now."