THE PROPHET RUA.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1916, Page 6

THE PROPHET RUA.

AN AMAZING STORY. MAXIM GUN AND MAUSER PISTOL. FOLLOWERS WELL ARMED. Wellington, March 15. 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. AcI cording to this gentleman, tilings are very serious regarding the attempts to j I arrest "The Prophet," and the arrest | will not be effected without (to Say the least) considerable unpleasantness. The gentleman is Mr. E. 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 five 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 dwell-ing-house. This he was doing in the capacity of high priest. The head of the polbe 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 tiling that I object to is the fact that the King's warrant cannot be executed in the Urewera district. A big principle is involved, and the present unsatisfactory state of affairs is having a very dangerous effect on the Maoris. If lie'can do this there is some reason for their saying that lie 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 of the story. It is suspected very strongly that flerman influence has crept into even the Urewera country. Rua is believed to have a machine-gun at his stronghold, and it is taken as an accepted fact that he has a fair store o< i other arms. Mr. Bressey says that Rua told him that he was possessed of a Maxim gun, hilt Mr. Bressey did not see it. However, he did notice that Rua carried a Mauser pistol. Tf the wily Maori is as well armed as men who know the Urewera reckon he Ig, and is prepared to resist arrest, there may be considerable trouble in taking him. The country is of a most inaccessible character, and Maungapohaka 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 Whakatanc (50 miles. The way in from fiisborne is said to be strongly guarded by the followers of the mail who is defying the officers of the Crown. This system of defiance has been a valuable asset to Rua, according to Mr. Bressey. 14 WIVES AND 25 CHILDREN. "His mana has been derived through j defying the Government over and ov«r

again. When I was there at Christ- : mas, ,1914, he had 14 wives and 25 child- | ron. He has been allowed to do that | kind of thing that no white man would I be allowed to. It may be said for him i tliat it was right under, old Maori custom, but that supposition is wrong, for Rua is not a rangatira, but is slaveborn, and therefore is allowed only one wife. A tale has 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 the white men. MISGUIDED .FOLLOWERS. "Rua started very shrewdly. In the first place he said to the natives, "'You have a lot of land here. 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 yon,' 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 lis, 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 land. A BANK THAT "BUSTED." "Then Rua said: 'We . must have a bank.' So the Maoris had to sell every-' | | thing (curios and all), and the money I was banked. The terms were that Rua | was to pay them 8 per cent, on all i 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 say) 'bust.' RUA'S BIG TEMPLE. "Rna'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 • apjstles. The apostles are 'permanent [ fixtures,' but when they take their seats they do not know which particular i apostle they are to be for the occasion. - A revolving table with a dozen divisions s holds the secrets. Into each division '■ is placed the name of an apostle, and when the table stops revolving each follower of Rua discovers whether he is Peter, Matthew', Thomas, or John by 3 extracting the paper from the division ' which stops opposite to. him. Rua, as 1 the Messiah, has a little cupola up near [" the roof r.r.d well above the apostles. 5 "Such is the man whom the police ' seek to arrest. The whole thing is regarded by some as a recrudescence of 1 Te Kooti'. Rua says that the mantle * of Te Kooti has fallen upon him. To J a great extent he has gone out of the , Messiah business. He is the Maori e Kaiser now."