THE PROPHET RUA.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 67, 18 March 1916, Page 7

THE PROPHET RUA.

AN* AMAZING STORY. MAXIM GUN AND MAUSER PISTOL FOLLOWERS WELL ARMED. An amazing" story of the condition of affairs in the Urewera Country is told by an Englishman who has arrived in Wellington after residing for some time in the vicinity of Rua 's stronghold. According to this, gentleman, tilings are very serious regarding the attempts to arrest "The Prophet,'' and t-he arrest will not be effected without (to say the least) considerable unpleasantness. The gentleman is Mr. E, F. EresSCf, who has been teaching in the native 'school at Te Whaiti, and is new on his way to join the British Army.

Regarding a recent attempt to arrest Rua. Mr. Bressey say3'that'a force of five went out under police control, and come upon Rua some distance from Maungapohatu, which is his 'lea? quarters. He had about 100 of his followers with him, and he was out lifting the tapu off a certain dwelling house. This he was doing in the calcify of high priest. ~T-he 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 not moving about now without an armed bodyguard. I am certain -he intends to resist arrest,-'but as a British subject, the thing that I object to is the fact that the King's warrant cannot bo executed in the Urewera Country. A big principle is involved, and the present unsatisfactory state of affairs is having a very dangerous effect on the Maoris. If he can do this there i some reason for their saying that V must have some mysterious po 1 Moreover, if he breaks the law, anc 1 then defies the police others are sure to emulate him." WELL ARMED BODYGUARD. There is a dec-ply sinister side to the story. It is suspected very strongly that German influence has crept into even the Urewera Country. Rua is believed to have a machine-gun at h'< stronghold, and it is taken as an accepted fact that he has a fair store other arms. Mr. Bressey says th? Rua told him that he was possessed <

a maxim gun, but Mr. Bressey did no see it. However, lie did notice that Eua carried a Mauser pistol. If the wily Maori is as well armed as men who know the Urewera reckon he is, and is prepared to resist arrest, there may be considerable trouble in taking him. The country is of o most inaccessible character,, and Mau'ngapohaka is scores of miles from anywhere, with little in the way of roading to get there by. The distance from Rotorua is 85 miles, and the distance from Whakatane 66 miles. T-he way in froGisborne is said to be strongly guarded by the followers of the man who is Vlefing the officers of the Crown. Thi«= system of defiiance has boon a valuable asset to Rua according to Mr. Bressey. 14 WIVES AND 25 CHILDREN. "His mana has been derived through defying the Government over arid over again. When I was there at Christmas. P.) 14, lie 'ia;l 14 wives and 25 children. He hes been allowed to do that kind of thing that no white mv.v. wouVJ be allowed to. It may be su?* for him that it was right under rl-i Maori custom, but that supposition is wrong, for Rua is not a rangitira, b>- J iy slave bcrn, and therefore is allowed only one wife. A tale has even been spread in the Urewera that the Germans are going to take New Zealand and give back to the Maoris the land now held by v hi J .o men. MISGUIDED FOLLOWERS. "Rua y started very shrewdly. In the

first he said to the natives, 'You have a lot of land here. If you don't look out the Government will take it. You j 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 prci - erty which had been held by him for years before the cession to Rua. Rua i 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 that Rua sold the land back to the Maoris in quarter-acre sections —or rather a small portion of the kind. A BANK THAT "BUSTED." "Then Rua said: 'We must have a bank.' So the Maoris had to sell everything (curios and all), and the , money was banked. The terms were that Rua was to pay them 5 per cent, on all money left there on fixed deposit, and that they were to pnv him.2o per cent, on all withdrawals. The bank is now (as the Maoris say) 'bust.' RITA'S BIG TEMPLE. , "Rua's temple at Maungapohapa is an extraordinary structure. It is a huge, circular building, with a very flat roof, unsupported by pillars, and the ' Prophet' naturally does not miss the chance' to explain that it is sustained by faith. In the middle is a raised dais, around which sit the twelve apostles. The apostles are 'permanent fixtures,' but when they take their seats they do not know which particular apostle t-hey are to be for the occasion. A revolving table with a dozen divisions holds the secrets. Into each division is placed the name cf an apostle, and when the table stops revolving each follower of Rua discovers "•lu'ther he is Peter, Matthew, Thomas or John by extracting the paper from the division which stops opposite to him. Run, as the Messiah,"has a little cupola up near the roof and well above the apostles. "Such is the man whom the police seek to arrest. The whole thing is regarded by some as recrudescence of Te Kooti. Rua says that the mantle of Te Kooti has fallten upon him. To a great extent he has gone out of the Messiah business. He is the MaoTi I Kaiser now.''