VOICES FROM AFAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 14

VOICES FROM AFAR.

MEDIUM GOES TO COURT. COMPENSATION FOR ACCIDENT. THE RIGHT TO HOLD SEANCES. M r Justice Humphreys has been responsible in a London Court for a precedent regarding spiritualism. Hitherto Judges have been inclined to take up tlio materialistic attitude in regard to this cult. Mr. Justice Humphreys, on the other hand, asked for tolerance and a respectful attitude toward those who believed in spiritualism. A case was before the Court in which Mrs. Florence May Perriman, of West Ilanipstead, sued a taxicab owner and the owner of a car for damages owing to injuries sho had received in an accident. In evidence she, said that she earned an average of £lO a week as a spiritualist medium. Sho had many seances booked, but could not carry them out owing to her injuries. Sergeant Sullivan, ]\.C. (who appeared for the defendant) : What do you do when a client comes in ? Mrs. Perriman: A number of people como in as they would go to a church. Spiritualism is my religion as well as my living. We have a prayer and an invocation, and sing, and probably a voice comes over from the other side. We get a sermon or help for people's health. Some people will como in contact with those who have passed over. To me the belief is absolute that these peoplo had a communication, and that I am merely the receiver, as on a longdistance telephone which is just beyond the veil. "What Horoscopes Reveal. Sergeant Sullivan: Are clients told of things which are going to happen ? If anything is told them about their health I give them the diagnosis I get and tell them to go to a doctor. Mrs. l'erriman said on an average people paid a fee of about half-a-guinea each. Air. Justice Humphreys: Do you give horoscopes ?—Yes. You arc able to tell the person whether it is wise to go out to-night or to-morrow or whether he will get influenza? —No. I tell him whether ho is suitable to go into some new business. From astrology you can usually tell whether the person is going to bo successful in the same way, ns from phrenology you can tell in a child. Asked bv Sergeant Sullivan whether she foretold the future, Mrs. Perriman replied: "If I were able to foretell the future I should not be here to-day, because if I could have i'w otold tho motor accident 1 should not have gone." Jifr. C. Doughty (counsel for the owner of the car) asked witness to explain a horoscope, and she replied " People tell you their birthday, the day and the month; you get tho rising sign and then simply give them a reading on that." Then people born at tho same fimo must have the same character?—Y r es, I am convinced of that. There is some sort of vintage in man the same, as there is in wine? —Yes. " I am not a Fortune-teller." Mrs. Perriman said it was possible to (ell whether a young man was suitable to go in for law or medicine. Mr. Doughty: That- depends on the time he was born ?—Yes, it does. Mr. Doughty: I suppose some uninstructed people who go for entertainment only would take that as fortune-telling ? Witness (hotly): No! I am not a for-tune-teller. Mrs. Perriman broke down and sobbed bitterly, and, at tho suggestion of the Judge, she left the Court for a time. On returning she said sho had advertised as a trance and direct-voice medium. " Everyone hears the voice," witness told the Judge. Turning to Mr. Doughty she said: " They w ill hear yours one day." Mr. Doughty (bowing) ; Tho inference is obvious, madam. (Laughter.) I take it you liopo it will ho soon. Mr. Justice Humphreys, in summingup, said he could see no evidence which would justify ono in saying that -Mrs. Perriman earned money in an illegal way. There was no evidence that her astrological investigations were only another form of attempting to tell fortunes. "So far as her astrology goes, she calls herself an entertainer, and I think that is what she is," added tho Judge. Holding Seances not Illegal. " Tt- is said," continued the judge. " that there are certain stars which are favourable to presons crossing the sea, but others arc not, and if one goes ono is likely to be drowned. If this woman can make money by this it is no more harmful than any other ways of earning money. There aro a great many people who believe that they have the power of communicating with persons who have passed into another sphere. " I say in all seriousness that one has no right to laugh at people who hold these beliefs. They are held by people of the highest standing in this country —scientists and others. One must not make fun of people who believe theso things. Holding seances clearly is not illegal, and Mrs. Perriman is entitled to bo paid that she has Jnst." The jury awarded Mrs. Perriman £lO6 10s damages.