Gage George Ngati Maniapoto Nz 1936 1961

edmondsallan - Hello - Gage gradually built up a reputation as a priest who had the power of prescience, as well as the power to heal. He was first formally registered as a Ringatu minister, under the name Hori Keeti, in 1942 and held the position until his death. He established his practice at Omaio, and was particularly successful in dealing with mate Maori – illnesses that resulted from cultural and spiritual rather than physical causes. He co-operated with doctors: Dr Golan Maaka, a Maori who practised in Whakatane, sometimes sent patients to see him. For those who suffered but could not attend in person it was sufficient to talk with Gage by telephone. Such was the case of a patient from Nga Puhi who rang him saying that he was being plagued at night by the sound of a walking-stick thudding through his house. However, in this case Gage advised the patient to consult his own minister who could recite the appropriate prayers for the situation. Gage's advice was in total contrast to the attitude of a local clergyman, who on hearing that members of his congregation were consulting Gage, proclaimed in a sermon that tohunga were the equivalent of witch doctors.
Gage never took payment for his services, but his people saw to it that he lacked nothing. The Tangaere family of Ngati Porou in
particular saw to his needs. The most Gage would accept was a bottle of olive oil, which he used a great deal in his treatments, or a flask of sea water, which he used in place of fresh water to bless his patients and remove tapu. As a tohunga he gave advice to women wanting to become pregnant, and made decisions about objects associated with the recently dead: generally they were to be buried with the deceased, or at least not used by living descendants. When his rules were obeyed, his patients did well. On a number of occasions when his rules were flouted, his patients suffered calamity; their children died as he had predicted or other disasters occurred.
Gage also acquired a reputation for having the power of spontaneous healing. On one occasion a crippled child was seen to be carried into the meeting house where Gage was holding prayers; he blessed the child, who then walked out unaided. Gage was the tohunga who decided that the thistle painted in the house Rongopai, built in 1887 to receive Te Kooti in Gisborne, should be painted over; it had come to be regarded as an omen of disaster.

Harihari Gage died in 1955 and in Ruatoria on 11 August 1956 George married Agnes Georgina Winkleman of Ngati Porou. They would have two daughters and a son. By 1956 Gage was at the height of his powers and people were beginning to regard him as a spiritual successor to Te Kooti and Rua Kenana. That year, on 8 October, the anniversary of the coronation of King Koroki, Gage spoke on the Turangawaewae marae. By then he had established himself at Tataiahape, south-west of Opotiki. For some time he led there a separate section within the Ringatu church known as Rangimarie (peace). Tame Te Maro, the East Coast leader and secretary of the Kotahitanga of the Treaty of Waitangi movement, which aimed at uniting Maori under God and the Maori kingship, came to Tataiahape, and for a while the two movements merged.

Gage continued to work as a healer and his following grew. People visiting the settlement were blessed with sea water, and women patients were massaged with olive oil by a number of ‘nurses’. He blew on his patients through a handkerchief, a symbolic action to remove pain. Some who visited him at this time felt a kind of shock, like a strong force flowing from or through him. A few even regarded him as the next embodiment of the Messiah.

Gage’s movement eventually became divided, and he returned to Otuwhare, where he continued to be consulted and respected. He died in Opotiki on 3 June 1961, survived by his wife and children of three marriages. He is buried at Omaio. Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan