BACK FROM ZION CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 13048, 13 December 1905, Page 5

BACK FROM ZION CITY.

POORER., SADDER, AND WISER. Five of the band of ltffjtho left .Wellington for Zion City about seven mouths ago,;,' re- ': turned "by the' Victoria, lull* of Sadness, and with the knowledge .that Zionism, is a delusion and a. snare. ..- They left Wellington for. what they considered a-"land of promise," Y Commercially*' and ' spiritually. They are Mr. Thomas Wood i (who was an employee of ■'; the' Government Printing Office),'.:' Mrs. Wood, their two daughters,, and one son. •,',:•;'" We" are disappointed," were Mr. Wood's words, when spoken to by a Times reporter. * $Sr3. Wood said: — Hundreds of people have 'to. find work outside the city, and as soon' they, earn enough* money to take tbeii' families away, they leave." ,' ' '.. ,' "Don't these people ■say' anything of the treatment.they have received - '" ' ■~,.' ~ ; ".If you had gone thfexi'gi) what we have you would not say -anything," -was. the reply. "As soon as anybody .leaves the city the; officers of . Dowie : endeavour to damage their character. Zion Guards are continually watching you. They follow you about from place to place, and always know where you intend going. You-have-no idea what awful things • they have said about .us. . ■' Overseer' Volivia. is coming to New Zealand very shortly, and is going to try to-upset all we have said about; Ziom Our leaving has lost many thousands of pounds' to Dowie which would have been collected in New Zealand." Mrs. Wood said the city was very orderly, but not nearly so many people were going to church as formerly. There was no drinking,, smoking, or swearing, such offences against the laws of the city being dealt wills harshly. There was a gaol and a court; of justice. The prisoners were fed on the worst of food. She instanced a case "where" six : boys were .arrested for playing with bat and ball on a sidewalk. They ' were, fined six dollars each, in default three weeks' imprisonment. The parents fought the case out in a proper court of law in an adjoining town, and, the Dowieites becoming scared, the boys were liberated. " They publish the birth-rate," said Mrs. Wood, " but. nothing of deaths or lunacy. Deaths ■ are very frequent, and as many, as three -'lunatics have been sent > out of the city in a week. We we're told of the won- i derful cases of faith healing, but I never knew, of one case in the whole city. : The, sufferings of the poor aire great.", >, ~;. • ■ - Mrs. Wood mentioned the name of a man who was at one time well known in shipping circles in Wellington. "He is dying," she said, " and drives about in a mail-cart for exercise." Mrs. Wood concluded by "saying that many people, although they had been taken in, firmly believed in: Dowie, and were under the impression that if he cursed them they would die. There were many people doing well, and in responsive positions. A Mr. Grainger, formerly of Timaru, was at present the financial: agent of the city. i Dowie himself was " clothed in pomp," and very little was seen of him. , ;