OBITUARY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1939, Page 2

OBITUARY

T. W. RATANA, THE MAORI PROPHET. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WANGANUI. This Day. The death occurred at Ratana of Tahupokiti Wiremu Ratana, the .Maori prophet and faith-healer, following a long illness. He was a second cousin of the Rev. Robert Haddon and a grandson of a Maori’-who was one of the earliest Maori followers of Christianity in New Zealand. Preparations for a large tangi are in progress. Ratana established the Maori United Welfare Bank and launched a £34,000 scheme io recover from the Government all lands alleged to have been unjustly taken from the Maori owners. But failing to obtain redress, Ratana and a party of some 40 natives left for England in 1924 to lay their troubles before King George V. He met scant success in London, Geneva, or Japan, and on his return announced that his healing mission was ended and that he was going to found a church. He did so in 1925, and quickly found 22,000 followers, 100 ministers, 400 lay preachers, and 40 sisters. The Anglican Bishops of the North Island threatened with excommunication all of their denomination who joined his church. However, it has lasted through the subsequent decade.