PARIHAKA TOLL GATE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 94, 6 September 1912, Page 7

PARIHAKA TOLL GATE.

CHARGE FOR A BISHOP £IOOO. The Anglican Bishop of Auckland (Dr Crossley) who recently returned to Auckland from a visit to the Taranaki portion of his diocese, made the following statement to a press interviewer:— "My visit to Parihaka, that famous littlc*Maori town to the west of Egmont impressed me very much. The. town was erected liy the 'Maoris after the last war. and it was where the policy of passive resistance to the pakcha was rigidly continued bv the Natives. At one time it contained 2000 to 3000 inhabitants, now it has 150 to 200. Afi an index of the antagonism to the Church, it is interesting to recall that a toll-gate was erected by 'the Maoris, ami the charge for a bishop was £IOOO. We drove up in a motor to this deserted little town, beautifully situated under Mount Ivrraotit, wi(h the ,sea in the distant foreground. I had a long interview with Tematekino, one of the old chiefs, and we bad much conversation on religions matters. There is no church in Parihaka. and the religion, such as it is, seems to a strange compound of Old Testament theology, wrapped up in ancient Maori law, For instance, the old chief assured me that his descendants migrated from Babylon, and produced his Bible, with which lie was very familiar., to prove the fact."