MODERN MIRACLE-MONGER

NZ Truth, Issue 252, 23 April 1910, Page 4

MODERN MIRACLE-MONGER

It is strange what a fascination for maay people the alleged power of "divination" invariably has. It seems inherent m haaian nature to delight m the strange, the weird, the inexplicable. Wondcs-worJiers will always draw a crowd ; the charlatan inevitably secures an audience. Let a roan claim to perform a miracle, he will soon have a host .of ioticwers ; let someone else arise' and pa>ovc him a fraud, and only a small minority will cease to believe m the rogue who has been exposed. From time immemorial this has boea so, and until the end of the chapter it will doubtless so continue. Water diviners have from the most ancient «ssnes excited wonder and amazement, aod, even m these days of enlightenment, tbey crop up from time to time with a real or alleged belief m their cjtaims to extraordinary powers. For a long time past the Rev. H. Mason, o! Otahuflu, has sajoyed a reputation as .a water diviner, hut now this parsonical gentleman comes forward with a much more startling claim. He boldly asserts that his marvellous powers enable him to locate tbe sates* wonder of the tific world"— Rndioiu. Mr Mason, says the ■"Dsnstsa Times," is now at Dargaville, at the invitation of tf* Borough Council, and utaims to have located a supply of water su&eient for the town. Having borrowed a particle of radium from a doctor m Wairarapa, he now claims to prove that he can tetl wherever he hides it by means of a strange twitching of his muscles and nerves. We shall soon expect to hear that bfe services have been retained byl the Mines Department to locate deposits of the substance whose value In pounds sterling per ounce is said to run into four figures. Such a ! man would be worth an, enormous salary, j vn-oricled his claim is tenable :— But is