RATANA AT PARIHAKA.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1922, Page 7

RATANA AT PARIHAKA.

GREAT FEASTS. HUNDREDS OF MAORIS BAPTISED. Writes our Pungarehu correspondent:—• Preparations on a lavish scale were' made by the Maoris for the reception of Ratana, his sOn and their staff. The large dining-room in the late Chief Te Whiti’s house has been artistically decorated, while spotless cleanliness everywhere prevail?. Here it is that meals are served for the great faith-healer, and the many visitors to "Parihaka, while a ' special room is open to the pakeha visitors,- and free meals may be obtained. A chant of welcome by the ‘local Natives heralded the arrival of the; illiistfiy ous guests, and the feast in course’ of preparation was soon ready io be’ partaken of. It is_estimated that'about two hundred Maoris from Waitara were present on Wednesday, visitors from all along the coast. The white population also - ate very much in evLdeuce and the village is full of life and bustle. Large quantities of “kai” have been • purchased—bread, biscuit sj tinned goods, about 6000 small cakete, and; - in' addition, several fat bullocks are daily slaughtered, and sacks of potatoes disappear into the huge cooking utensils to be cooked for the many guests and followers of the faith-healer. Dressed in a quiet and homely suit of grey, Ratana is decidedly modest and retiring. His son. who is a candidate for the western Maori electorate, is a man of clear-cut features and splendid physique, and. so far as can be -gathered; has the conndence of the natives, who are somewhat reticient as to the real object of the present visit. But, whether for political or spiritual reasons, the visit is marked by a very friendly feeling between native and pakeha, and several hundreds of the former have been baptized by Ratana, both at Parihaka and Rahotu, in the presence of numerous converts and Europeans.