RATANA, TAHUPOTIKI WIREMU (1870-1939) was of the Ngati-Apa and Ngati-Ruanui tribes and was a cousin of Robert Tahupotiki Haddon (q.v.). In early manhood he farmed near Wanganui. During the epidemic of 1918 he was very sick and subject to visions. Having read the Scriptures deeply under Presbyterian missionaries, he became a faith healer and claimed to have cured thousands of Maori men and women of various forms of sickness, paralysis and other disability. Having a large following all over the country, Ratana established a modern settlement at his own pa, Ratana, near Wanganui, created the Maori United Welfare Bank, and invested £34,000 in an attempt to recover from the state lands which he claimed had been unjustly taken from his people. In 1924 he led a deputation to England to lay these grievances before the King. In the following year he founded a church which soon had 22,000 followers, 100 clergy and 400 lay preachers. A few years before his death he moved to Matamata, where he founded a similar settlement. He died on 18 Sep 1939.

A son, Haami Tokouru Ratana, contested Maori seats on several occasions, and was elected to Parliament for the Western Maori district in 1935.

Wanganui Herald, 19 Nov 1920; The Dominion ib. (p)

Reference: Volume 2, page 101

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