"SOME TESTS OF WATER DIVINING."

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20630, 20 August 1932, Page 11

"SOME TESTS OF WATER DIVINING."

TO TH-: -EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir, —I liar© been reading with great interest the articles and letters on the subject of water divining. It seems strange that anyone should question the fact that it is a very well-known faculty, and has been practised with remarkable success for hundreds of years. The dipping of the rod in the hands of a diviner is, I feel sure, connected with an electrical phenomenon. The following experiment would bear this out. Take a person with whom the rod vvili not work, and lot bim stand beside the diviner and on his left. The. diviner takes one branch of the rod in his right hand, the other person the other branch in his left hand. Both now move forward over a previously located strong stream. The rod will not work; but if they join their disengaged hands, thus completing the circuit, and try again, it will dip at once. The non-dfciner cannot stop it. When I was younger and the rod would work for me more strongly than it does now, I noticed that exhaustion followed if it were used for too long at a time. It is true that no known science explains the apparent miracle; but then fifty years ago Dr. H'ilgendorf would have pronounced wireless impossible. Some examples of my experiences that can be easily authenticated should prove conclusively that the faculty exists and can be made of great use. A friend in the North Island, wishing to rebuild his house and knowing his existing water supply to be inadequate, asked me to find for him another water lead to sink a well. I found that there was one running under the garden at the back of the house, and when asked if I could fi&d the source I traced it through the house into a store-room. Then it transpired that Mr Chambers, a well-known diviner, had been previously called in and had located the stream and its soyrce in exactly the same places. Some years ago I happened to be on Blairich Station in this district, just when the owner was trying to increase his house water supply. He was frankly sceptical that water could be found by divining, and as a test led me to within fifty yards of the edge of a terrace, to walk parallel with it and tell him if I crossed any water. He, himself, walked along the edge looking over where he could see the water running out of the I cliff over the shingle below. I found each of five streams, and told him their width and strength of flow. I oould not see below; neither had I ever been there before. At another homestead when I said I could only find running water I was taken to a spot under which was a two and a half inch water main. The owner stood in a shubbery some distance away, and turned the tap off and on. As he turned he shouted. "Now?" and 1 could tell him correctly each time whether the water was flowing or not. He was far enough away to make any sound of running water inaudible, and the outlet was quite invisible. I have also passed the blindfold test, although this is difficult as blindfolding does interfere to some extent, I bel.ieve. A diviner balances the forked wand with meticulous care, and actually resists any tendency for it to turn, so that he may be quite sure it is an external influence at work. The truly scientific mind neither condemns nor accepts any theory hastily. Is it possible that Dr. Hilgendorf is pulling everyone's leg?— Yours, etc., E. F. J. GRIGG. Meadow bank, Blenheim, August 18th, 1932.

TO THE EDITOB OF THE PRESS. Sir, —Here are some extracts from current notices: (1) When the generators at. Arapiini vibrated on their Base, a member m the iiouse asked the. .Minister if it> were not a laet that a water aiviner naa located. & subterranean la&e underlie atn tue power-house. Mr (Joates: "les; but 1 called m the services of another diviner, and he said there was nothing but solid rock under the power-house." {2) £ roni yesterday's "The Alt. Eden Borough council . . . allocated the sum oi £lO to get the opinion of a water diviner. . . Fifty applications were received.'' (3) From the last "Auckland Weekly": "'The leak in the head-face has not been located. J3ores in two likely localities, chosen alter the services of water diviners had been employed, failed to tap the underground stream." (4) From an advertisement brochure by ——, of Liverpool (1932): "The^ patent automatic water and oil finders for locating water aijfJ oil down to depths of 3500 ft cost £200; for testing down to 8000 ft cost £375. . . It the needle gives no movement, then either there is no water, or it is useless for manufacturing or domestic purposes. If the water is soft the needle gives a nice easy swing, if it is hard the needle moves and sticks. "The — — water diviner . . . willnot divine Surface water, or water that has not seen the surface. "The mineral finder is exciting much interest among treasure hunters. The apparatus with one setting-up will examine an area of one acre to a depth of 100 ft, and the price is £IOO. For an apparatus to examine two acreß to a depth of 200 ft, the price is £2OO. For the largest J?ize t»o examine 10 acres to a depth oi 1000 ft the price is £1000." Isn't water divining scientibc. Yours, etc., * August 19th, 1932.