TE AWAMUTU NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2243, 23 November 1886, Page 2

TE AWAMUTU NEWS.

[from our owx correspondent. I TV. AwAMiru, Monday. Mosr of tho potatoes in the district ho-vo suffered severely by the late frost; in many cases the stalks have completely died out. So scveio was it that pea*, turnips, cabbage and e\ en furze weie cut badly, and as if the damage was not sufficiently complete the plague oE brown beetles has set in. Every evening they rise from the ground in countless numbers and devour every green thing. The only way we can keep them in check is by spreading sheets and cloths under the trees when the beetles h.i\o settled, and by shaking the tree they drop off on to the cloths and can there be put into a vessel. A little boiling water poured on them completes the operation. The suggestion made by a contemporary tint the Tangi should be put down in New Zealand has some sense in it. At hr^t sight it would look like interfering too much with the liberty of the subject, but when liberty in this particular diiectiun means actual starvation afterward to many, it would not be so preposterous a-, it would appear. Of course it is not likely that any such steps will be taken, but those who are acquainted with the character of such gatherings cannot help experiencing a wish that some moans should be adopted to put them down. The tangi over Tv T.iwhiio was not over on Saturday, chiefly because the food w.is not exhausted, or rather the ni'Hiey of the relitives for the whole 01 almost tho whole ot tho food consumed there, was purchased from the pakehas. The two bakers in Ale\andra were kept going day and night and as they could not even then keop up the supply of bread, the b.iker here h..J to take additional batches. All thi", of course, is good for some few tradesmen, but bye and by when the withe* run short of food, as they do periodically, the »noney so foolishly spent now would be useful in providing for the starving people. There is another evil as great or cren greater than the tangi, that is the fatal belief of the people in the tohungas (priests). Fatal is the correct word to use, for the wicked old impostor at WhatiA'hfttihoe has been the direct cause of the death of many sick people who unfortunately weie taken to him. A young man was taken ill at Kopua and some of his relatives, — who by the way are half-castes, and are educated above superstition — call in a medical man who prescribed for him ; tho invalid however did not get well as quickly as others of his relatives (natives) thought, and they e.illcd in the old humbug fiom Whatiwhatihoe. who muttered his incantations and impostures o\er him. Finding out what the doctor recommended the tohunga gave contrary instructions ; if the doctor recommended that the patient should be kept warm, he said he was to be kept cold; if nourishing food were preset ibed, kanga pi ran was to be given him instead. The tohunga's no\t move was to have the unfortunate man dipped in the Waipa. Of cour>e, such treatment as this cowld have one effect, the sick mail was dead in lt>--than a fortnight. I hear dipping in the Waipa was adopted in Te Ta whiao's case, the day of or the day before his death. If this is tiue thero is no doubt but l|is death was accelerated by the treatment. Only "- week or two ago a young woman at Oturohanga was suffering trom congestion of the lungs, and by direction of this scoundrel the poor creature was taken out and laid in the titree with no shelter from the cold wind but a blanket or two ; there was no attempt at shelter of any kind, not even a breakwind. There she was kept for two days with the rascally tohunga going through his incantations over her. It is hardly necessary to say she died soon after. If the fellow \yere prosecuted and punished for ipanj slaughtei' it would perhaps have a good clfect. Contact with the Europeans has not been sufficient to cure the Maoris of belief in tho supernatural power of the tohungas, or the influence of tapu, Kducation will no doubt contribute in a great measure towards dispelling the clouds of superstition, but by the time that object has been gained a great many lives will have Leon sacrificed to thii absurd belief. How easy it is to hoax the great Auckland morning paper. A few days ago the Waikato D^stiiot I!^o\v«' columns had it that Mr Clonnann was al)ouf to resign the chair of the council, and that Mr Teasdale was to bo his successor. Thero is not a word of truth in the loport, Mr (jermann never said anything about giving up the position, Tho article conveying this intelligence was news to him quite as mutih jvs to any of his friends. As " the old lady of Wyndham street " must be in her dotage by this tinip, the^e little mistakes may on that account be pardonable.

Tenders are invited by the engineer of ths TV A warnutu Town Board up to Tuesday f 30th November, for grading and forming*