MORE "HEALING."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 447, 4 March 1909, Page 5

MORE "HEALING."

INTERVIEWS WITH PATIENTS. CUINEAS FOR PRIVATE TREATMENT. PATIENTS WITH NO AILMENT. The people who were treated by those entor- • prising professors of "vital scienco healing," Messrs. Beaumont and Posthlowait, nt the • Town Hall on Tuesday aftornoon, knew moro about tho value of their treatment next day. A Dominion representative who visited a number of tho patients found that most of thom, when tho first excitement was passed, were very little or no bettor off than they wero before tho "healers" laid their hands on them. An old man suffering from paralysis of tho leg and side was found sitting in his garden in tho sun. Ho stated that ho had received no bonefit from tho strangers' treatment, either at the moment or afterwards. From first to last ho had felt no effect at all. The "healer" had moved his arms up and down before the audience, but ho hau been able to do that before. The opinion which he expressed about the "healers" would pain thoso kind philanthropists. Another old man, suffering from a prolonged complaint, was callod upon, but he was at the he.-Jers' office for a further course of treatment. His wifo and daughter stated that though for a minuto or two after treatment the man thought that he.was better, ho had decided in tho evening that ho was not. .He had been under similar treatment for months past at tho hands of soveral local "healers," arid had never received any benefit. As it was believed that, ho had no marrow in his bones, his relatives had little hope that the Litest apostles of healing would do him any good. An elderly man, who appeared t.o have been cured of lumbago and rheumatism by the "healers" on Tuesday, was seen at 6 p.m. yesterday by tho reporter. He said that his troublo had previously been diagnosed by a doctor as sciatica, but ho had received no medical treatment for about two years. Under the hands of tho "healer," he said, the pain entirely left him, and he felt perfectly well. He walked off flourishing the stick on which ho used to lean, and declining help in descending tho platform steps. Tho troublo, however, began to come back as no left .the building, and was still more in ■ evidence yesterday, but he declared that it was not so bad as before tho treatment. Tho Ohiro Homo was rung up yesterday to inquire a3 to tho condition of an inmato who was treated at Tuesday's demonstration. It was stated that'.ho had reported himself as no better yesterday morning than he was before the treatment, although he had experienced somo temporary relief. Two persons who professed to be relieved on Tuesday gave addresses to our representative, and his inquiries yesterday proved interesting. Ono address given was a number in Kent Terraco,' which was found on investigation to be that of the Presbyterian Church, and another gave a number in Roxburgh Streot, but the residents of tho house indicated had no knowledge of the person who received treatment.; ; An old man who was treated for sciatica on Tuesday told a Dominion representative yesterday that ho was still much better. But ho was a. mental "healer" himself, and professed to' have used the art for removing headaches and' toothaches of his freinds during the past 20 years. He could not say how long the improvement of his Gciatica would last, but thought that if he could afford a course of treatment it would be entirely cured. He described the younger "healer as a perfect battery. * A lady who visited the healers' office yesterday morning was informed that the charge of 55., intimated at the Town Hall, covered only consultation, and that the cost of treatment was a guinea for each visit. As she was also told that a week's course of visits would probably be necessary in her caso, the lady returned homo without making further disbursal.

A Second Demonstration. : . 1 Messrs. Beaumont and Posthlowait gave | their • second demonstration at the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon., The hall and gallery wore crowded, and .many could not gain admission. A large number of people, said to be suffering from ivarious complaints, made their, way to the-platform and underwent the treatment, many of them declaring that they felt better for the operation. Some Naive Confessions. Mr. Beaumont made some naive confessions in conversation with a Dominion representative _ yesterday., Ho did not know how long his colleague and himself would , stay in Wellington. That usually depended on tho number of people who continued to seek their ministrations. In Sydney' they had stayed sis weeks; in Melbourne five weeks. . ■ ( , Yes, they • did charge a guinea for private treatment in some cases. Their private treatment, he need hardly say, was often very different from their practice on the public platform. At' their office they had sometimes to spend 40 minutes on one patient. Tho icharge for such treatment was a guinea, but if a patient had to visit them a Targe number of times, they would not charge a guinea every time. A reduction would be made in the account. Tho initial fee, of 55., was for examination and advico. In the case of many patients, Mr. Beaumont said, it was not necessary to charge more than that. Manv of thei/ patients were not Teally in need ot any treatment, though they thought they were. Proper dieting in their own nomes, or a course of bathing, would suffice to set them right.