MR BOSS RETURNS.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2775, 17 October 1923, Page 9

MR BOSS RETURNS.

(To the Editof }

Sir,) —Might I suggest to you that 11 . you are desirous that this discussion between us, proceed on courteous lines that you drop using intended inBultirig and personal expressions such as "for once drop your blinkers, etc." Such expressions, in addition to being of the nature I mention are Inanely silly, and tempt retaliation. For example, if I wished to adopt your Billensgate style I might point out that you are the last . person who J should suggest to anyone that they should drop their blinkers, seeing that you, personally, have never been seen without blinkers, indeed it is suspected that you even sleep with them on. One could even suspect that at some time in your life you had been connected with somii cheap debating society in which the main aim was to overreach your opponent rather than to acquire knowledge. Tou accuse me of occupying too much space with irrelevancies, but you failed tO ( mention even one. "Would you kindly do so? as then I would have the opportunity of showing you the connection between my statements and the matter at issue. You further accuse me of expressing my personal opin-: : ions. Surely such an accusation is illogical. You cannot expect me to express the opinions of others with which I am not in agreement; that would be dishonest. When I express! opinions of my own, which may be' held by others, they don't cease to We my opinions because of that coincidence. And strange to say whilst you object to my personal opinions you state that you are sending me a copy of "How I was Healed" which you ask me to review, meaning that 1 give my personal opiniob about- it. Now Mr Editor see the false position you place yourself in. You state in one part of your note that you object to me expressing my personal opinions and in the same note you ask me -to express my personal opinions, emphasising the request, by saying, to give "an honest answer." An honest answer could only be one believed in by me personally. Yet you say you don't want my personal opinions. If you express yourself so confusedly on a simple matter of this kind is it logical to expect you to think clearly on matters which demand clear thinking and logical judgment. You accuse me of "denials of awkward and obvious facts." Like all biassed people you assume as facts things that are not substantiated by reliable evidence. Therein lies the difference of opinion between us. The laying-on of hands method of curing alleged diseases, is based on that very ancient and exploded superstition- that diseased persons suffer from an internal demon and that the laying-on of hands by some priest had the effect of exorcising the evil spirit. If this demonical

superstition were correct and the exorcism effective then Instantaneous cures would be possible, but no thinking man or woman to-day belives this nonsense, hence instantaneous cures of diseased organism are unthinkable. The only people who can possibly believe in the instantaneous cure of organic diseases are those who are grossly Ignorant of the biological construction of the human body.—l am, etc., R. ROSS. [We asked'Mr Ross to explain how a man who the doctors said was suffering from tuberculosis of the spine and had been on his back for two years had been made to walk. Mr Ross's reply was that it was an "alleged" cure. In other words he denies that the man really had what the doctors said he had, or else he denies that the man is now walking! Perhaps the man is not walking. He may only think he is walking, but is really -still very ill in bed! Now, this is the attitude of mind in which Mr Ross viewed the particular cure that was. brought under his notice. If that is not wearing mental "blinkers," what is? If it is not denying obvious and awkward facts, what in the name of commonsense is it? Why should the critic Who calls Mr Hickson a quack and all his well-wishers "superstittous," mentally weak," "ignorant," "credulous," simple-minded," and a few other choice epithets, feel irisulted when he is quite politely asked to "drop his blinkers" and face these facts honestly. If the man was healed — we n ( he'was healed! Why accuse the poor unfortunate sufferer of being a malingerer? That is what the use of the adjective "alleged" implies. What we want to obviate is that in his review of "How I was Healed" Ml Rt/*s will not commence by denying the facts and merely substitute personal opinions. But if ho continues to work himself into the frenzy threatened in above choice effusion he will be just about as capable of giving an unbiassed judgment as an intoxicated rhinoceros would be of waltzing on a tight-rope.—Ed. "M.D.T."]