MORMONISM IN TARANAKI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 9, 5 July 1911, Page 8

MORMONISM IN TARANAKI.

A SPECIAL MORMUX MISSIONAItV. We had a visitor to oujr office yesterday, says Friday's Manaiii Witness, Mr. G." Thurgood, who described himself as a special Mormon missionary for the Maori districts of this Wand. He was accompanied by a young Southern Maori as an assistant in his work among the natives, and he spoke of him as an enthusiast in the work of Mormon propaganda. Mr. Thurgood said he wished to be allowed to make a statement relative to the religion he represented, and, as he understood, things had apj peared in the press reflecting on their methods and morals, he was prepared to answer any questions that might be put to him. He had, he said, seen it stated that they preferred girl converts to men. He admitted that similar statements had appeared in English, papers, but there was 110 truth in it. In reply to a question as to what class of people Mormon missionaries were; whether they were educated, and what guarantee there was as to their character and morals and their fitness for the kind of work they undertook, he said he was himself the son of a butcher in Utah, and he had received a common school education, and was selected for the work he was engaged in because, in the opinion of the Elders, he had special qualifications. He wished to be allowed to contradict the statement that the Mormon missionaries lived on the charity or benevolence of the Maoris. As for himself, he got remittances by mail regularly from Utah, and had no need for assistance from anyone. As to their proselytising work among the Maoris in this district, he admitted they had made satisfactory progress, and the work was still going on. Out of the forty thousand Maoris in New Zealand, they had won fully six thousand over to Mormonism. Some of those had gone out to Utah, but they paid their ' passages o't. They had sent some ' Maori fam' <es out from this district, and he hoped in a short time they would be able to send more. This dis- ' triet was a promising field for them, ' and they had some very good workers ' amongst the natives themselves.