THE DEATH-DEALING TOHUNGA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8451, 31 May 1907, Page 3

THE DEATH-DEALING TOHUNGA.

A BAD CASE IN THE WAIKATO.

(Christchurch Press.) News has reached Wellington from reliable sources of strange doings on the part of a Maori Tohunga at a little villages near Atiamuri. Some time ago a Maori girl who was ill was placed under the treatment of this Tohunga. The first thing the ignorant old man did was to put the child for the greater part of a night in a cold creek that ran past his whare. Then she was taken into the whare and beaten all over with sticks. The object of the beating with sticks was to drive thz evil spirits cut of her body. A European who chanced to go into the whare afterwards said the child's b9dy was covered with bruises. When he came upon the scene the Tohunga was gripping his patient round the throat to keep the devils that he had beaten out from re-entering her body. The visitor seized the Tohunga and flung him across the whare. The child died the next day. No inquest was held. At this same village another girl is now being slowly done to death by the ol d Tohunga. She is a half-caste, and a little while ago she was a very pretty child'. In this case the Tohunga's "treatment" consists mainly in feeding her on strips of raw pork. People who have seen her recently state that the girl is in a pitiable state. Probably it is not yet too late to save her life if the authorities take prompt faction. These statements are made to me by reputable persons v/ith a view to having them made public in the interest of common humanity.