No Shingled Heads For Ratana Girls

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 257, 20 January 1928, Page 14

No Shingled Heads For Ratana Girls

Maori Healer Issues a Definite Edict LONG HAIR IN FUTURE To Ratana, the Maori healer, it is not even a case of “Will you have it bobbed or shingled?” He refuses to countenance either procedure. rpHB latest edict from the Ratana A settlement is that all the female followers are to wear their hair long. This applies to the school child as much as it does to the married woman. Ratana’s decree in regard to the wearing of hair means the end of the bob and the shingle as far as his people are concerned. It is said to have been issued on religious grounds. Ratana’s claim is that his instruction has a Biblical foundation. The shingled beauties of the healer’s pa are not the only ones concerned. NATIVE TEACHER’S PROTEST One of the teachers attending yesterday’s conference in Auckland of teachers of native schools complains that since this announcement she has had the greatest difficulty with her pupils. When the heads of the children were shingled, or even bobbed, it was not a very difficult matter to keep them clean. With long hair, however, it is a very different matter. At her village, on the shores of Lake Taupo, all the natives of the district are Ratanaites. The mothers were appealed to in vain to cut the hair of the offsprings. An appeal to the “all highest” Ratana is now being considered by this teacher. Some idea of the harmful effect of the healer’s attitude in regard to medical men can also be gained from the experience of this teacher. It is only fair to state, however, that quite recently Ratana intimated, that, “his power having departed,” his people were at liberty to call in a doctor if required. In August of last year a Maori resident at this visage and his daughter, aged IS, were seriously ill. So dangerous was the situation in regard to the girl that the teacher personally brought in a medical man to attend her. MEDICAL ASSISTANCE REFUSED The doctor was refused admittance. “Our trust is in God,” said the father, who, incidentally, died the following day. The girl died later in the week. In her case, said the medico, with proper attention and care there was not the slightest doubt but that she could have been saved. The consequence is, the teacher explained, the family of this Maori were quite without means until she managed to obtain State- charitable aid for them. There was no doubt that Ratana had been responsible for doing a great deal of good for his people. The trouble nowadays, she submitted, was that too much responsibility was very often placed in the hands of lieutenants in different parts of the country who perverted his teachings and generally were a law unto themselves.