SPIRITUALIST CHURCHES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 17 April 1944, Page 2

SPIRITUALIST CHURCHES

NO INCREASE IN WELLINGTON Wellington, This Day. There are no more spiritualist churches in Wellington now than before the war. A minister of one, to whom was referred a report from Sydney of attendances at spiritualistic seances being six times greater than before the war, said that this would refer to practices outside the properly constituted spiritual.st religious bodies. “We hold’church, and lecture, but we don’t do that sort of thing,” she said. There was also given a little demonmonstration of overhead spiritual clairvoyance, but questions about fnissing persons and the like were not answered. The inquirers were merely advised ito be patient. She had had many calls from persons at her home seeking similar advice, but there was nothing done other than to endeavour to comfort them. The number of spiritualist churches in Wellington—three—was the same as it had been for some years. The practices referred to in the Australian message she knew well, being an Australian herself, but they were unconnected with the spiritualist churches. In one place in Sydney, Lawson Chambers. there used to be as many as 50 of these people operating, sitting in little rooms and taking fees of sixpence and a shilling a iime. Anyone was welcome to visit the spiritualist churches in Wellington and see for themselves that the practices referred to in the Australian message we«e not followed here. In any case these practices could not be classed as spiritualism but were fortune-telling. Inquiries concerning fortune-telling in Wellington showed that the position is little different to that of normal times. The police have no knowledge of any increase. The mere fact that a person or persons were suspected was not sufficient. Direct evidence must be brought to sustain a prosecution and obtain conviction. While any member of the public with such evidence could prove a case, provided the testimony was accepted by the Court, citizens are generally disinclined to take such action, and the matter is usually left to police officers to secure direct evidence themselves. The message from Australia quoted a Sydney police report of a Yevival in palmistry and other occult practices and attendances at city spiritualistic, seances six times greater thn before the war. In six days there had been 90 publicly advertised spiritualistic meetings in Sydney, with attendances ranging from 25 to 130, while scores of other seances were believed to have been held in private homes.