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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3582, 19 June 1880, Page 2

The Maori prophet Te Whiti and his coadjutor Tohu have again sent forth their revelations to the world. The universe will be totally annihilated shortly, and the enlightened prophet and his followers v> ill be our successors to things temporal. Surely this revelation will have effect on Europeans, who shored make a general stampede for some other quarter of the globe not under the bane! Te Whiti's prophecies are certainly not based on sound principles of logic, or he would forsee that the end of the world would be the inevitable destruction of his followers. No doubt the end of the world referred to by him is a good argument to keep his adherents together, as to the unenlightened Maori mind the phrase is fraught with a terrible meaning. By the use of such unmeaning platitudes the Elijah of Maoridom keeps his supporters together, and on " broken bottles" as one of Dickens' characters misuses the phrase for " Tnterhooks." By idiotic jargon of this kind the Maoii intelligence is kept in check, and the prophet no doubt mr'ces a good thing out of the susceptible natives. He prides himself that the natives have outwitted Europeans by not rushing into a contest of strength, but at the same time it is evident that he is afraid of the consequences to be iner-red ia proceeding to bell.cose extremes. As usual he quotes from the Scriptures in support of his asseverations, which are no less absurd than untenable. Prophecies may be believed in by his followers, but the stuff he crams down the'? unsophisticated throats is too good to be credited by Englishmen, and only excites in them a feeling of disgust, ridicule, and contempt.